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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday made a strong pitch for door-to-door vaccination against Covid-19 as he stressed on the importance of completing the second dose.
He was chairing a review meeting with district magistrates of over 40 districts which are lagging in Covid-19 vaccination coverage.
Speaking at the meeting, PM Modi said that authorities will now have to go to every house with the spirit of “Har ghar teeka, ghar ghar teeka”, referring to a plan of taking the vaccination programme to households under the Centre’s “Har Ghar Dastak” campaign.
“Doors of all houses should be knocked where people have still not received both doses of vaccine,” the Prime Minister said.
The meeting, being held via video conferencing, included officials of districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of vaccine. The 40 districts are spread across Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Meghalaya, among other states, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Prime Minister also warned against lowering the guard following India’s historic milestone of administering 100 crore vaccine doses.
“They say one must never underestimate disease and enemies. They have to be fought against till the very end. So, I would want that we should not bring even a slight laxity,” he said.
Applauding frontline workers for their effort in taking vaccination to remote locations in the country, the Prime Minister said, “Progress made so far is due to your hardwork. Every member of administration and ASHA workers worked a lot, walked for miles and took vaccination to remote locations. But if we become lax after 1 billion doses, a new crisis can come up.”
Talking about states that administered 100 per cent of first vaccine dose to people, he said, “You will have to remember that the states that have achieved the goal of administering 100 per cent of the first dose of vaccine, also faced challenges. The challenges were in terms of geographical situation or resources, but these districts overcame those and went ahead.”
Terming Covid-19 pandemic the biggest one in 100 years, the Prime Minister added that a “significant thing in nation’s fight against the virus was that we found out new solutions and used innovative methods”.
“You too will have to work more on innovative methods to increase vaccination in your areas,” the PM told officials who attended the meeting on vaccination coverage on Wednesday.
“We all have gained experience and learnt a lot over these months. Even our ASHA workers have learnt how to fight an unknown enemy. You now have to go ahead and make a micro-strategy,” PM Modi also said.
He said we have a major challenge of ‘rumour’ and ‘misconception among people’ in front of us. As we go ahead, we perhaps will find these challenges in concentrated areas, the Prime Minister said, adding that “a big solution is to make as many people aware as possible”.
Prime Minister Modi held this meeting immediately upon his return from abroad after attending the G20 and COP26 meetings.
Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had recently said that there are more than 10.34 crore people in the country who have not taken the second dose of vaccine even after the expiry of the prescribed interval.
(With inputs from agencies)
He was chairing a review meeting with district magistrates of over 40 districts which are lagging in Covid-19 vaccination coverage.
Speaking at the meeting, PM Modi said that authorities will now have to go to every house with the spirit of “Har ghar teeka, ghar ghar teeka”, referring to a plan of taking the vaccination programme to households under the Centre’s “Har Ghar Dastak” campaign.
“Doors of all houses should be knocked where people have still not received both doses of vaccine,” the Prime Minister said.
The meeting, being held via video conferencing, included officials of districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of vaccine. The 40 districts are spread across Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Meghalaya, among other states, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Prime Minister also warned against lowering the guard following India’s historic milestone of administering 100 crore vaccine doses.
“They say one must never underestimate disease and enemies. They have to be fought against till the very end. So, I would want that we should not bring even a slight laxity,” he said.
Applauding frontline workers for their effort in taking vaccination to remote locations in the country, the Prime Minister said, “Progress made so far is due to your hardwork. Every member of administration and ASHA workers worked a lot, walked for miles and took vaccination to remote locations. But if we become lax after 1 billion doses, a new crisis can come up.”
Talking about states that administered 100 per cent of first vaccine dose to people, he said, “You will have to remember that the states that have achieved the goal of administering 100 per cent of the first dose of vaccine, also faced challenges. The challenges were in terms of geographical situation or resources, but these districts overcame those and went ahead.”
Terming Covid-19 pandemic the biggest one in 100 years, the Prime Minister added that a “significant thing in nation’s fight against the virus was that we found out new solutions and used innovative methods”.
“You too will have to work more on innovative methods to increase vaccination in your areas,” the PM told officials who attended the meeting on vaccination coverage on Wednesday.
“We all have gained experience and learnt a lot over these months. Even our ASHA workers have learnt how to fight an unknown enemy. You now have to go ahead and make a micro-strategy,” PM Modi also said.
He said we have a major challenge of ‘rumour’ and ‘misconception among people’ in front of us. As we go ahead, we perhaps will find these challenges in concentrated areas, the Prime Minister said, adding that “a big solution is to make as many people aware as possible”.
Prime Minister Modi held this meeting immediately upon his return from abroad after attending the G20 and COP26 meetings.
Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had recently said that there are more than 10.34 crore people in the country who have not taken the second dose of vaccine even after the expiry of the prescribed interval.
(With inputs from agencies)
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