New Delhi, Jan 16 Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday joined doctors and potential vaccine beneficiaries at AIIMS here at the launch of the world's largest Covid-19 vaccination drive. Vardhan emphasised that safety above all else has been the guiding principle in the entire process.
He said the Prime Minister has been personally involved in the management of the pandemic since the start and Saturday launch marks the culmination of five months of hard work on rolling out the COVID vaccines, and termed the vaccination drive as the finest structure in place.
"These vaccinations are being given all over the country and in all parts, whether it is a rural area, whether it is a tribal belt, whether it is a suburban area, whether it is urban setting, a slum in an urban setting, even in the remotest part of the country the system has been put in place. Lakhs of healthcare workers from the national level to the block level have been trained for this exercise," said Vardhan.
He added that after eradication of smallpox and polio, it is the turn of Covid-19. "This is beginning of the end of Covid," said Vardhan.
Citing the benefits of the dry run for vaccination, Vardhan added the government ensured that the mock exercise was done in stages, culminating in national level mock exercise, so that even if there were slightest glitches in the delivery mechanism, it can be corrected. "More than a lakh vaccinators were trained; multiple mock exercises were conducted; a pan-India national exercise was also conducted to hammer out the slightest glitches," he added.
Stressing on the benefits of CoWin app, Vardhan said it is a technologically superb app. "A platform which depicts win against Covid, it is tracking everything, the vaccine, its availability at various places, its temperature at various places, its transportation and also tracking every bit of information connected with the potential beneficiary. All those who have been given these vaccinations are already on the platform," said Vardhan, citing that vaccination certificates will also be provided to the beneficiaries.
Emphasising on the collective efforts of the government, he added that the Prime Minister and all Chief Ministers along with state health ministers have worked as a team and created history.
He also stressed on the need to counter rumours and myth-mongering in relation to administering of COVID-19 vaccines. He also appealed to people not to be misguided by the misinformation campaigns and believe only credible and authentic information.
"The whole country has been waiting for life to return to normal. People have lost their near and dear ones. These few people who are misleading others into questioning the integrity of the process are being unfair to the sacrifices made by the common people and the future of our society," said Vardhan.
( With inputs from IANS )
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