Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with top state ministers today before the launch of the coronavirus vaccine, stressed that politicians should not jump the queue to take the vaccine, but wait their turn, sources told NDTV.
The government has prepared a priority list for the first phase of vaccination, which is spearheaded by one crore of health workers and two crore of front-line workers such as police, civil defense personnel and sanitation workers, to who the vaccinations will be free.
The other high-risk groups, people over 50 years of age and those under the age of 50 who have comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension, will also be vaccinated in this phase, starting on January 16. In total, 30 million people will receive the vaccine. In this phase.
The prime minister’s warning came after the Haryana government’s request to include public representatives such as parliamentarians and community members to be included on the vaccination list in the first phase.
On November 24, at the last meeting between the Prime Minister and the Senior Ministers, Haryana’s Senior Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made the request. The Prime Minister had not responded at the time. Later, the state health minister, Anil Vij, had written to the Union health ministry, but received no response.
In Thursday’s meeting with the Union’s health minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the health ministers of Bihar and Odisha demanded that the public representatives of the panchayats in Parliament be considered front-line workers and get vaccinated.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan made it clear last week that not everyone in the country can be vaccinated at this time. “Based on the number of doses, it is not possible to vaccinate all people simultaneously. Therefore, priority groups were decided,” he had said.
Given the limitations, the government is trying to vaccinate a critical mass of people that would help build herd immunity and keep the virus at bay.
Sources at the Pune-based Serum Institute, whose Covishield has received emergency drug regulator approval along with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, said the government can place a purchase order for the vaccine today, at a price of 200 rupees per bottle for the first 100 million. dose.
Serum CEO Adar Poonawalla had told NDTV that the vaccine would be priced at around Rs 1,000 per dose in the private market in India once the government gives its approval.
The prime minister’s warning came days after reports of the illegal sale of the Covid vaccine in the US In New York, police are investigating a case where the vaccine was fraudulently obtained and distributed.
.