Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stressed on the the need to involve NGOs and other organisations to scale up the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country. Modi, who held a meeting with top officials to review the progress of vaccination, also directed officers to work with the states to ensure that the pace of testing does not go down.
“PM expressed satisfaction at the rising speed of vaccinations in this week and stressed that it is important to carry this momentum forward,” said an official statement. It said, during the meeting, the officials give a detailed presentation to the prime minister on the progress of the vaccination in the country.
“The PM was briefed about the age wise vaccination coverage. PM was also briefed about the vaccine coverage among healthcare workers, frontline workers and general population in various states,” the statement said, adding that the officials apprised Modi about the vaccine supply in the upcoming months and the efforts being made to increase production.
The officials said 3.77 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the last six days which is more than the entire population of countries like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Canada. As many as 128 districts in the country have vaccinated more than 50 per cent of the 45+ population and 16 districts have vaccinated more than 90 per cent of the 45+ population.
“Officers briefed the PM that they are in touch with state governments to explore and implement innovative methods to reach people for vaccination. PM spoke about the need to involve NGOs and other organisations in such efforts,” the statement said.
During the meeting, Modi emphasised that testing remains a very important weapon to track and contain rising infections in any region.
According to the statement, the officers also apprised the prime minister about the rising interest in Cowin platform globally. “The PM said that efforts should be made to help all countries, who have expressed interest, with India’s rich tech expertise in the form of Cowin platform,” it said.
