Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy on Sunday stated that rapid vaccination and social vaccine of wearing masks, observing social distancing and personal hygiene are the only ways to halt further COVID-19 waves in the country.
“We need to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour not for the sake of police or in view of the government-induced restrictions but to protect our own families. The elderly, those with co-morbidities and children are especially vulnerable and need to be taken special care of,” he said.
Talking to the media after visiting various mass vaccination sites by the government and places where essential commodities were being distributed by the party workers in different parts of the capital, the Minister said the Centre had allotted about 82.5 lakh vaccine doses to Telangana. The State government procured about 4.5 lakh doses while private hospitals procured 11.75 lakh and the rest were supplied free by the Centre to vaccinate those in the 45-plus age group under the 50% distribution quota.
“We have decentralised the vaccine procurement to make it easy to procure. Efforts are also on to get the necessary raw materials from abroad to increase our vaccine production which would help us in vaccinating the entire population by this year-end,” he claimed.
The Centre has also supplied 1,440 ventilators to the government hospitals here with 250 having been handed over to Gandhi Hospital alone while four of the proposed 19 oxygen plants have been up and running across Telangana with funds from ‘PM Cares’.
The government was also following up on the approval for the indigenous Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech, in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research, with the World Health Organisation. “We are helping them in documenting the processes necessary to get the approval and once it is done, those wanting to go abroad for work or for higher studies should not be having any problem when they are vaccinated with Covaxin. We are expecting the approvals soon,” Mr. Kishan Reddy added.
