At a meeting with state Chief Ministers ahead of the Coronavirus vaccine rollout, PM Narendra Modi emphasised on Monday that politicians should not jump queue to take the vaccine but wait for their turn. He said that the government has prepared a priority list for the first phase of vaccination and underscored that the plan be followed to the tee. He said that no political leaders, at any cost, should misuse their privilege to skip lines to procure the COVID-19 vaccines for themselves or their family and relatives.
He said that the priority list will be headed by one crore health workers and two crore frontline workers like the police, civil defense personnel and sanitation workers, for whom the vaccines will be free. The other high-risk groups, people above the age of 50 years and those below it who have co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension, will also be vaccinated in this phase, starting January 16. Overall, 30 crore people will receive the vaccine in this phase.
Speaking at the interaction with CMs on vaccination rollout. https://t.co/gbWZ4LsQGB
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 11, 2021
Addressing the rumours floating around the efficacy of the “Made in India” vaccines, the PM said that the call for vaccination process to begin has been taken after “scientific validation” and their final opinion. He advised people to refrain from spreading false information and fake news regarding the vaccines.
“All States and UTs must ensure that rumours around the vaccination programme are not allowed to spread. Corporate competition and vested interests of certain lobbies within and outside the country may be at work to fuel the rumours,” PM Modi said.
All States and UTs must ensure that rumours around the vaccination programme are not allowed to spread. Corporate competition and vested interests of certain lobbies within and outside country may be at work to fuel the rumours.
— BJP (@BJP4India) January 11, 2021
– PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/xiJH8ibNlG
He also said that both the vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are “more cost-effective”, adding that dependency on foreign vaccines could have been costly for us.
Proud that India will start the world’s largest vaccination programme from January 16: PM Modi
PM Modi said that while the opposition was taking a dig at him that India is sleeping while other nations have been vaccinating its people, Modi said that he was proud that India will start the world’s largest vaccination programme from January 16.
He alluded that in the coming few months almost 30 crore people in India would be vaccinated and India has taken several measures in the past few months to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted vaccination process. “We will be setting a precedence for the rest of the world, which will in future, adopt similar measure like India”, said PM Narendra Modi.
He congratulated the CMs of the states during the virtual meet by saying: “I’m satisfied that we worked together by standing united in COVID crisis, quick decisions were taken with full sensitivity. As a result, COVID has not spread in India on the scale, on which it spread anywhere else in the world.”
Digital platform named Co-Win has been created for Covid-19 vaccine registration and monitoring, said PM Modi
Modi informed that the most important aspect of this vaccination campaign is the identification and monitoring of those who have to be vaccinated. For this, a digital platform named Co-Win has been created using modern technology. “We’ve made necessary preparations for patients if the COVID vaccine shows any side-effects. We already have a mechanism under the Universal Immunization Programme for situations such as these. We’ve strengthened it specifically for COVID vaccination”, said Modi in the virtual meeting today.
Apart from the two already approved vaccines, four others are in the pipeline, informed the PM.
Modi on bird flu
PM Modi also interacted with the chief ministers over the bird flu crisis that has been confirmed in nine states, including Kerala, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra, as of now.
