New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a meeting to review COVID-19 vaccine distribution arrangements and called for “speedy access” to the vaccine for all members of the population, when one is finally made available.
PM Modi directed the officials to keep in mind the geographical span and diversity of the country while planning delivery logistics, according to Prime Minister’s Office release.
The Prime Minister directed that a vaccine delivery system be developed in a manner similar to the conduct of elections – involving all levels of governments and citizen groups, the release added.
“This should involve the participation of States / UTs / District Level functionaries, civil society organisations, volunteers, citizens, and experts from all necessary domains. The entire process should have a strong IT backbone and the system should be designed in such a manner so as to have a lasting value to our healthcare system,” PM Modi said.
Three potential vaccines are in advanced stages of development in India, of which two are in Phase II and the other is in Phase III.
In addition to this, Modi cautioned against complacency as the number of cases in India begin to decline and asked everyone concerned to keep up their efforts to contain the pandemic.
At today’s meeting the Prime Minister also appealed to people to ensure that social distancing is maintained at all times when in public and asked that restraint be maintained, particularly during the forthcoming festive season.
The meeting was attended by Union Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan, Principal Secretary to PM, Member (Health) NITI Aayog, Principal Scientific Advisor, Senior Scientists, officers of PMO, and other Departments of Government of India.
This is the second such meeting the Prime Minister has led in the past 48 hours and comes after the Health Ministry reported an “unprecedented” achievement this morning – that active Covid cases in the country dropped below eight lakh for the first time in 46 days.
Furthermore, the country has logged fewer than 70,000 cases per day over the past week, after reporting over 90,000 per day last month.
-CHK
