Highway protest delays vaccine van for Bankura

Burdwan/Bankura: An insulated van carrying 31,500 doses of Covishield for health workers in Bankura was caught in a protest on NH-2 on Wednesday morning and had to take a 5km detour through a village road. Although the van was delayed by several minutes, health officials confirmed that vaccine rollout wouldn’t be affected.
Supporters of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, led by its state president and minister Siddiqulla Chowdhury, launched a three-hour agitation on the national highway from 9.30am to express their solidarity with farmers protesting at the Singhu border against the Centre’s farm laws. The vaccine van remained stranded amid the stir for sometime despite the minister trying to reason with his supporters to make way for it.
Police and health officials, however, stressed that vaccine rollout from 10 sites in Bankura would not be compromised. Burdwan (East) SP Bhaskar Mukherjee said, “To avoid (further) delay, the vehicle was escorted through an alternative route.” Chief medical officer of health (CMOH), Bankura, Shyamal Soren said they had received the Covishield shots. “These will be dispatched as per schedule to the vaccination sites.”