Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, chaired a high-level meeting to review the progress of the country's vaccination drive.
Modi was briefed about the availability of vaccines and the roadmap for ramping up production. He was also apprised about the initiatives taken to help various vaccine manufacturers boost production by facilitating more production units, offering financial assistance and raw materials.
The PM reviewed the status of vaccination coverage among healthcare workers, frontline workers, and those belonging to the age group of 18-44 and above 45.
The prime minister pointed out that vaccine wastage continues to be a problem and said steps need to be taken to address this.
Officials briefed the the prime minister about various measures being taken on the tech front to make the process of vaccination more people-friendly. They said states are alerted about availability of vaccines in advance and have been asked to pass on this information to district levels so that there is no inconvenience to people.
A few weeks ago, the prime minister had asked district magistrates to take steps to prevent vaccine wastage. “The wastage of a single dose of vaccine means not being able to provide the necessary security to an individual,” Modi had said.
Earlier in the day, the health ministry had said India has overtaken the US in terms of number of people who have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. and added that the vaccination campaign will be further intensified in the coming days. "We have overtaken the US in terms of number of people who have received at least a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine. It is reassuring that we are steadily improving and intensifying the vaccine campaign and it will be intensified so much more in the days to come," NITI Aayog member (health) Dr. V.K. Paul had said.
