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| PM Narendra Modi instructs states to be Covid vaccine ready India | | |
Agencies
New Delhi, Nov 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting today to overlook the preparations being made by various state governments for a possible vaccine that could hit the Indian market sometime next year. The main aim of the meeting was to ensure that every state and UT in India has a Covid vaccine distribution strategy in place.
In the first part of the meeting, the PM chaired a video conference with chief ministers of eight severely hit states which included Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Kerala, West Bengal, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. After that PM addressed all states and UTs together.
Home Minister Amit Shah who was also part of the meeting cited examples of Covid spread in Europe and the US and said that India has to be cautious and careful. India cannot let it's guards down.
In the meeting, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal sought intervention from the Centre for handling the menace of stubble burning which is adding to the stress of Covid spread in the national capital. He said the high severity of the third wave is due to many reasons and pollution is one of them.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray informed the PM that he has been in touch with India vaccine manufactures Serum Institute of India and the state has also formed a task force to ensure timely distribution of the vaccine and implementation of the vaccine strategy.
Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani informed that testing was being done aggressively across the state. The CM also informed that the state still has more than 80% of the total isolation beds available.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that increase in the number of cases in the state was because it is a border state sharing its boundary with Bhutan and Bangladesh. Any increases in cases in these countries also have an impact on Bengal. Mamata Banerjee reiterated that the mortality rates in the state were still low. She also demanded payment of pending GST dues to the states.
The Bengal CM has assured full cooperation with the Centre and other stakeholders to ensure speedy and universal vaccination for all when it hits the Indian markets.
While addressing the chief ministers at the ends, PM Modi said that when vaccines will be available is not in our hands. Only scientists who are working on the vaccine know when we will get the vaccines.
He added that some people were doing politics over Covid and vaccine and we cannot stop anyone from doing that. The PM also added that Centre and all state governments need to work together when the vaccine arrives in the country. And all governments should finalise their strategy including storage and staff, to ensure that the vaccine is available to all citizens.
PM Modi also told the CMs that it is the duty of everyone to ensure that our frontline healthcare workers, elderly and those with comorbidities get the priority as far as vaccine distribution is concerned.
In the end, the Prime Minister assured that the process of vaccine distribution should be and would be transparent and smooth. |
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