PM Modi Takes Stock Of COVID-19 Situation; Suggests Vaccine Delivery System To Be Developed On Lines Of Conduct Of Elections

PM Narendra Modi directed that the access to the vaccine should be ensured speedily to every citizen once it is ready. He stressed that every step in the logistics, delivery, and administration should be put in place rigorously.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File Photo/ AFP)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi On Saturday chaired a high-level meeting to take stock of the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country and the preparedness of vaccine delivery, distribution, and administration. During the review meeting attended by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Member (Health) NITI Aayog, Several Senior Scientists and other Departments of Government of India, the Prime Minister noted the steady decline in the daily Covid cases and growth rate. Prime Minister during the session highlighted that three vaccines are in advanced stages of development in India, out of which 2 are in Phase II and one is in Phase-III. Several neighbouring countries including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Qatar and Bhutan have requested for clinical trials in their countries "In an effort to help the global community, we should not limit our efforts to our immediate neighbourhood but also reach out to the entire world in providing vaccines, medicines and IT platforms for vaccine delivery system," PM Modi said. As stated in the release, the Prime Minister further directed that the access to the vaccine should be ensured speedily to every citizen once it is ready. The Prime Minister stressed that every step in the logistics, delivery, and administration should be put in place rigorously. "We should make use of experience of successful conduct of elections and disaster management in the country," PM Modi added, further stressing on advanced planning of cold storage chains, distribution network, monitoring mechanism, advance assessment, and preparation of ancillary equipment. Emphasizing on the system be planned in the line of elections, PM Modi went on to say that the participation of States, UTs, District Level functionaries, civil society organisations, volunteers, citizens, and experts from all necessary domains should be encouraged in the delivery of vaccines. He also laid a stress on strong IT backbone so as to have a lasting value to our healthcare system. Earlier today, the Union Health Ministry had stated that for the first time in one-and-a-half months, the number of active cases of Coronavirus fell below eight lakh and account for merely 10.70 per cent of the total cases.