COVID-19: India will be able to vaccinate entire population

Union Health and Family WelfareMinister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said soon it would be areality to vaccinate the entire population in the countryagainst COVID-19 after prioritising risk groups.

The Centre has started a new COVID platform to trackparticulars of potential vaccine beneficiaries and also issueelectronic certificates to them, he told reporters afterreviewing the dry run of administering COVID-19 vaccine at theRajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here as part of astate-wide programme.

India, he said, has done extremely well in developingvaccines in the shortest possible time, and presently twovaccines have been given emergency use authorisation.

''In the next few days, also in the near future, weshould be able to give this vaccine to our countrymenprioritising those who are at risk in public and privatesectors. The government has already made known the scheme ofthings,'' he added.

The Minister also visited the Government OmandurarHospital here and a few other centres here.

In a country that is vast like India with a populationof 1.35 billion, everything was done smoothly and meticulouslywithout any glitches.

''We started the preparation for the impending vaccinedrive against COVID four or five months ago after primeminister Narendra Modiji constituted the national expert groupfor vaccination. We worked all the minute details and sharedthe information with those at grassroot level,'' he said.

In the process, several lakhs of health workers weretrained adequately.

Earlier, the government used to track the vaccine interms of the temperature it was stored.

''Now we started the new COVID platform in tracking thedetails of potential beneficiaries, places where they arelikely to get the shots, pre and post vaccination includinggiving an electronic certificate and follow it up with thesecond dose with detailed text messages and reminders,'' theMinister said.

The details of this 150-page document has been sharedwith all stakeholders to make the vaccination drivesuccessful, he added.

India was the first country in the world to take noteof the pandemic on January 6, 2020 and launch into action.

A year of action has led to the country having onemillion testing kits per day from a mere one when the pandemicstarted.

India has the highest recovery rate and the lowestfatality rate and almost all those infected got treated andreturned home.

The scientists and medical fraternity besides those indiverse fields rose to the occasion and displayed exemplarydedication and commitment.

''We are able to export PPE kits, N95 masks andventilators - almost everything that people used to talk aboutshortage then. Things transformed for the better due to theinspiration given by the prime minister for the development ofAtma Nirbhar Bharat,'' Harsh Vardhan said.PTI JSP SSPTI PTI