Jharkhand has decided to prioritise vaccination of street vendors, newspaper hawkers, food delivery boys, railway and airport staff and those who work in 17 other segments that carry a high risk of exposure to the coronavirus, health officials said on Sunday.

Dr. Siddharth Tripathi, the nodal officer for the IEC wing of the health department, said on that people working in oxygen manufacturing plants, drivers of vehicles used for oxygen supply, staff working at grocery stores, hotels and toll booths will also be included in the list of high-risk individuals.

“Besides, lawyers and their clerks, cab drivers and auto drivers, and also volunteers of NGOs working in the fight against Covid-19 will get priority in vaccination,” Tripathi said.

The directive regarding prioritizing high-risk individuals for vaccination against Covid-19 has already been passed on to deputy commissioners and civil surgeons of all 24 districts of the state.

The government had been contemplating vaccination on priority for high-risk individuals, which officials maintain, will not only provide safety to such people but also help break the chain of infection.

“Even during the lockdown, people mostly come in close contact with vegetable vendors, ration shop staff, Swiggy or Zomato delivery boys and petrol pump employees. The idea is to vaccinate them on priority in order to ensure that they are safe as they are regularly meeting people even during lockdown,” said an official from the National Health Mission (NHM).

Some districts, officials said, may hold special vaccination campaigns for high-risk individuals falling in the 22 categories fixed by the government. However, the districts will take measures at their own level to ensure vaccination of such high-risk individuals.

People falling in these categories have to move out of their houses for work even during the lockdown and were more likely to get infected due to daily exposure to a large number of people.

As per government data, the state on Sunday had 139,700 doses of vaccine for beneficiaries in the age bracket of 18 to 44 years and 724,390 doses for residents above the age of 45 years. So far, Jharkhand has administered the first dose of the vaccine to 34.26 lakh people and the second jab to over 7 lakh people.