Transgender persons to get mobile vaccination facility

PESHAWAR: The Health Department will soon arrange a mobile van facility to vaccinate the transgender community members, said an official on Monday.

The focal person of COVID-19 vaccination, Sikander Shah, held out the assurance to a delegation of the Aawaz II District Forum of the Blue Veins, a non-governmental organization, which met him at his office in the Health Department to take up the issue.

Blue Veins representatives Jannat Mehmood and Farzana Jan told the official that women and transgender persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who did not possess the National Identity Cards (NICs), were facing problems with COVID-19 vaccination.

They pointed out that the Health Department in the Sindh government had taken the initiative to vaccinate the transgender persons not having NICs to protect them from coronavirus. The Blue Veins representatives said such a decision needed to be replicated by the KP government as well to enable the transgender community members to get vaccinated as soon as possible as the matter warranted urgent attention.

Aawaz II District Forum delegation members thanked the Health Department after receiving the assurance that a mobile vaccination van would be made available to transgendered persons to have them vaccinated.