In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday announced a centralised Covid-19 vaccine policy. “Twenty-five per cent of the vaccination work with states will now be handled by the Centre, it will be implemented in the coming two weeks. Both State and Centre will work as per new guidelines in the coming two weeks,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister stated that seven companies are producing Covid-19 vaccines in the country and three vaccine candidates are under trial. The process to procure vaccines from abroad has also been expedited.
New health infrastructure has been developed in the 1.5 years with COVID hospitals, ventilators beds, to preparing a network of testing labs. During the 2nd wave in April-May, demand for medical oxygen increased at an unprecedented rate said PM modi.
Never in the history of India had the need for medical oxygen been felt in such quantity. To meet this need, work was done on a war footing he further mentioned.
PM Modi also announced extension of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana till Diwali this year. Under this free food grains will be available in fixed quantity every month for over 800 million citizens till Diwali.
Modi’s address on Monday comes at a time when India continues to fight the second wave of the pandemic and is staring at a possible third wave of infections. He has been holding review meetings with state governments and central government officials regarding the vaccination drive, testing, supply of oxygen etc.
Meanwhile, India on Monday reported 1,00,636 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s tally to 2,89,09,975. The death toll stands at 3,49,186 with 2,427 deaths in the last 24 hours.
