PM Modi launches India’s coronavirus vaccine drive

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched India’s vaccination drive against the coronavirus through video conferencing. A record 3 lakh healthcare workers across the country are scheduled to get vaccinated on the first day across 3,006 vaccination sites.

“Everyone was asking as to when the vaccine will be available. It is available now. I congratulate all the countrymen on this occasion,” said PM Modi.

“Bad times for corona has begun, we have two made-in-India vaccines now,” he added. Want to remind people of the country that two doses of the Corona vaccine are very important, he explained citing experts.

I request you not to make the mistake of taking off the mask and not maintaining social distancing after getting the first dose because immunity develops after the second dose, PM Narendra Modi warned. The gap between two shots should be one month.

Such a vaccination drive at such a massive scale was never conducted in history. There are over 100 countries having less than 3 crore population & India is administering vaccination to 3 crore people in first phase only. In second phase, we've to take this number to 30 crores, PM Modi said.

The immunisation drive will begin with healthcare workers, both in government and private sectors, getting the shots. 

CoWIN, short for Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network, is an online platform meant to facilitate real-time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualised tracking of beneficiaries for Covid-19 vaccine. 

 In the fight against coronavirus, we have set an example for the world at many steps. When countries left their citizens, stuck in China amidst this pandemic, on their own, India stepped up and evacuated not only Indians but also people of other nations under Vande Bharat mission, he added.   

“We took the right decisions at the right time, keeping an eye on every event, being vigilant for 24 hours. On January 30, the first case of coronavirus was found in India, but India had formed a high-level committee over two weeks before that. January 17, 2020, was the date when India released its first advisory. India was among the first countries in the world to start screening passengers at its airports.”

The Centre has issued guidelines to states and Union Territories. It said vaccination is allowed only for those who are above the age of 18 years. Women who are pregnant or not sure of their pregnancy and lactating mothers should not receive the jibe.