While the December 28 update on the operational guidelines for the Covid vaccine rollout does not include journalists as "frontline workers", the BJP-led Tripura government assured journalists in the state that they “will get Covid-19 vaccine on a priority basis,” NorthEast Now reported on Wednesday.

Pranab Sarkar, secretary of the Agartala Press Club, was quoted as saying, “Chief minister Biplab Deb has assured that journalists being frontline warriors will be given Covid-19 vaccines on a priority basis.”

According to Northeast Today, the press club had earlier sent the chief minister a letter stating that media workers "were also frontline workers" and should therefore get the vaccine "on a priority basis" along with their family members.

The decision comes in the backdrop of tension between the Tripura government and journalists in the state, who have alleged that the government has created a hostile environment for the press. Last month, perhaps to thaw relations, the government had announced a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh for journalists in the state.

Currently, frontline workers in India include personnel from the state and central police departments, the armed forces, prison staff, the home guard, disaster management volunteers, civil defence organisations, municipal workers, and revenue officials engaged in Covid containment, surveillance and associated activities.