New Delhi: India reaching the milestone of 100 crore COVID-19 vaccinations in about nine months is a “remarkable achievement,” credit for which goes to the state governments, district teams, the grassroots workers as also people of the country, Niti Aayog member VK Paul has said.
Speaking to ANI, Dr Paul, who is Member (Health), Niti Aayog, said people coming forward in such large numbers to get protection from the disease is “proud moment for India”.
He noted that the focus now should be to reach out to people “away from normal communication channels” such as those in remote locations and those who need to be facilitated in the process of vaccination.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the response to the COVID-19 challenge from the front and “mentored the vaccination programme”.
“The nation, its people and health care workers deserve congratulations. To reach 1 billion vaccination mark is remarkable for any nation. And this has been achieved in just over nine months since the start of the vaccination programme. It is an achievement of the state governments, the district teams, the grassroots workers and the people. Above all, it is the people who accepted and embraced and came forward to be part of our pandemic response to protect themselves and protect the society from the menace. So, truly a proud moment for India, and congratulations truly to the leadership of India, particularly the Prime Minister, who led the entire pandemic response from the front and blessed and mentored the vaccination programme,” Dr VK Paul said.
Emphasising consistency in reaching the goal of fully vaccinating the people of the country, he said while 75 per cent of adults have got the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the effort now has to be to reach out to the remaining population besides giving the second dose.