As India started vaccinating children aged 12 to 14 years from Wednesday, 16 March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter, urging all those eligible to get vaccinated.
"Today is an important day in India’s efforts to vaccinate our citizens. Now onwards, youngsters in the 12-14 age group are eligible for vaccines & all those above 60 are eligible for precaution doses. I urge people in these age groups to get vaccinated," PM Modi tweeted.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday, 14 March, had announced that children aged 12-14 would begin to receive their vaccine against the novel coronavirus from 16 March.
"Also, everyone aged 60+ will now be able to get the precautionary dose," Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had tweeted.
'Everybody Was Waiting To Vaccinate Kids in 12 to 14 Age Group'
Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that his team has already identified about 20 lakh children who would be eligible for vaccination in the state.
"Everybody was waiting to vaccinate their children between 12-14 years of age. Parents & children are very happy. In Karnataka, we've identified about 20 lakh children in this age group. We started today, we'd like to vaccinate as early as possible," the minister said, as per news agency ANI.
Inaugurating the vaccination drive for children in the age group of 12-14 years at Rukminigaon Balika Vidyalaya High School in Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "Such a huge number of students have come for vaccination. I would like to compliment PM Narendra Modi and the scientific community for giving us this vaccine. It will further strengthen our resolve to fight COVID," news agency ANI reported.
'India in a Much Better Position To Fight COVID-19 Now': PM Modi
In a Twitter thread, PM Modi, on Wednesday, also recalled India's COVID-19 vaccine journey.
Stating that India began making vaccines in early 2020, he commended the country's scientists, innovators and the private sector for rising up to the occasion.
"In January, 2021, we began vaccination for frontline workers and subsequently in March 2021, we opened vaccination for people above the age of 60 and for the 45 plus age group having comorbid conditions. Later, everyone above the age of 18 were being inoculated," he wrote in a tweet.
India, he said, has so far administered over 180 crore vaccine doses. This includes over 9 crore doses which were administered for people in age group of 15-17 and over 2 crore precaution doses.
Further, PM Modi also commended people for voluntarily coming forward to take the vaccines.
"Unlike other nations where we are witnessing a lot of vaccine hesitancy, people here have not only taken their doses but also urged others to get vaccinated as soon as possible. This is heartening to see," Modi said.
He also appreciated state governments for their support towards the country's vaccination drive.
"Several states, especially the hill states, have achieved near total vaccination coverage and many other big states have done well," he said, adding that India had also supported other countries with vaccines under its Vaccine Maitri programme.
The country now has several ‘Made in India’ vaccines. And hence it is in a much better position to fight COVID-19, he said. However, "we have to keep following all the COVID related precautions."
(With inputs from ANI.)
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