India has spared no effort in fighting the once-in-a-century pandemic, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as he outlined his government’s response to the deadly second wave of coronavirus.
In his televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister said the government has deployed all its machinery to meet the massive demand of medical oxygen during April-May.
“This is the biggest epidemic in the last hundred years, it is a tragedy. The modern world had neither seen nor experienced such an epidemic. Our country has fought together on many fronts with such a big global pandemic,” Modi said.
Speaking on the vaccination coverage in the country, Modi said: “Vaccination coverage was only 60 per cent in 2014, we have augmented the capacity through ‘Mission Indradhanush’. Our vaccination coverage is now 90 per cent.”
“Compared to the demand for vaccines all over the world today, the countries producing it and the companies making the vaccine are very small. Imagine that if we did not have a vaccine made in India right now, what would have happened in a huge country like India today?,” Modi said.
“To increase vaccine availability, the process of procuring vaccines from abroad has been sped up. Experts have also expressed concerns about children. In this direction, the trial of two vaccines is underway. Research is being conducted for a nasal vaccine in the country,” the Prime Minister added.
The Centre’s vaccine policy has been has been widely criticised — by multiple state governments to civil society to courts of the country — amid severe shortages. The Supreme Court had also recently the Centre over its vaccination strategy.
“If you look at the history of the last 50-60 years, you will know that it used to take decades for India to get the vaccine from abroad. Vaccine work used to be completed abroad, even then the work of vaccination could not start in our country,” Modi further added.
On Monday, India reported its lowest daily case count in over two months, a sign that the second wave of coronavirus is starting to fade away.
Experts even warned that India’s sluggish inoculation drive might leave enough room for the deadly virus to hit the country for the third time.
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