All-party meeting | COVID-19 vaccine in next few weeks, says Narendra Modi

Modi said that there was an App “Covin” which would allow people to know exactly what was the stock of vaccine available.

December 04, 2020 12:03 pm | Updated 10:31 pm IST - New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the all-party meeting through video-conference to discuss the coronavirus situation, in New Delhi on December 4, 2020. Twitter/@narendramodi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the all-party meeting through video-conference to discuss the coronavirus situation, in New Delhi on December 4, 2020. Twitter/@narendramodi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday told floor leaders of around 19 political parties represented in Parliament that a vaccine against COVID-19 could be available for roll out in the next few weeks. He said this during his closing remarks to the all-party meeting where nearly 30 leaders of various parties were present.

Also read: PM’s meet on COVID-19: parties with less than 10 MPs will not be allowed to speak

“Experts have assessed that it won’t be too long before a vaccine against Corona is available and that it could a matter of weeks for that to happen,” Mr. Modi said. “As soon as scientists green light a vaccine the distribution will start,” he said.

The government, he said, had set up a national experts group of scientists, Central and State government officials for mapping the vaccination programme, which would likely take advantage of India’s large and experienced vaccination network from its universal immunisation programme. “Cold chain and other logistics will be boosted taking inputs from State governments,” he said. Frontline health workers and those with co-morbidities would be first in line for the vaccine, Mr. Modi said.

The pricing of the vaccine would be “according to the imperatives of public health” and in consultation with State governments, he added.

Also read: Coronavirus | It will not be possible to lift the lockdown in one go, says Narendra Modi

He said his visits to vaccine development and manufacturing facilities in Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad and his talks with company officials there showed that there was a high level of confidence in the possibility of a vaccine being out for use soon. Due to the world’s requirements for an effective and inexpensive vaccine, India was very much in the spotlight, said the Prime Minister adding that eight vaccine candidates were being manufactured in India and three were being developed indigenously.

“As we are on the cusp of getting a vaccine we should not now relapse in to behaviour that may see another spurt in the disease. India’s experience in dealing with the Coronavirus despite not having the health infrastructure of developed countries is a sign of the country’s determination and adoption of a scientific approach to dealing with the disease. This must continue,” he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.