The Additional Inspector General (Welfare) of Sindh Police has asked police officials above 50 years of age to register themselves for Covid-19 vaccination.
The AIG wrote a letter to all district police officers as well as Rangers officials in this regard. He called for a dedicated desk to be set up at vaccination centres across the province for them.
So far 6,366 police officers and personnel have been affected by the coronavirus since the pandemic began last year in February, out of whom 24 passed away.
It is noteworthy that the Sindh government has already started vaccinating jail staff and prisoners above 50 years against the virus. On Wednesday, prison staffers and inmates at the Karachi Central Prison and Malir Prison were inoculated. The Sindh government aims to inoculate 1,882 inmates and 641 jail staff during a campaign.
Jails in Pakistan are massively crowded, with inmates vulnerable not only because they live in high-risk settings in what are often older and poorly ventilated buildings but also because they often have co-morbidities that worsen prognosis should they fall ill, health experts say.
In Karachi Central Jail where the drive was launched by Inspector General of prisons, Kazi Nazir Ahmed, on Wednesday, almost a quarter of the jail population had tested positive for the coronavirus last June. The jail, with a capacity of 2,400 prisoners, currently houses 5,000 inmates.
Overall, Sindh has an overcrowding ratio of 32.23 percent, with 17,239 inmates lodged in 24 prisons meant for 13,038 inmates, according to figures from jail authorities.
“This Covid-19 is the biggest disaster that man is facing nowadays. We are proud of the government of Sindh which has taken very effective measures and timely measures,” IG Prisons Ahmed told the media, saying his was the first prison department in the country vaccinating inmates and jail staff.
In Karachi’s Central Jail, 790 prisoners and members of jail staff will get vaccine jabs, followed by Central Prison Sukkur where 696 people will be inoculated. In Hyderabad Central Prison, 663 people will get shots and in district prison Malir Karachi, 550 will be vaccinated. Of the prisoners getting vaccinated, 920 are under trial inmates, 862 are convicted criminals and 100 are detainees.