India crosses 1.5 bn Covid vaccine doses, Modi terms it ‘significant milestone’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement while virtually inaugurating the second campus of the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata on Friday.
The total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 1.5 billion on Friday, a feat termed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “significant milestone” in the fight against the pandemic. Speaking during the virtual inauguration of the second campus at Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata, the Prime Minister said: “Today, the nation has crossed an important milestone. India started the year with the vaccination of children in the age group of 15-18 years. Today, we are achieving the target of giving 1.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine, and that too, in less than a year.”
Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter saying, “ With the guidance of PM @NarendraModi and the efforts of our health workers, India has achieved the historic record of 150 crore vaccinations. Nothing is impossible when everyone contributes.”
India had crossed the milestone of 1 billion Covid vaccine shots on October 21 last year.
Speaking at the event, the PM added that even as Covid-19 cases were rising fast because of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, more than 90% of the country’s senior citizens have received their first dose, while around 15 million children in the age group of 15-18 years were vaccinated against the disease in the first five days of the year.
However, during her address at the same event, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the campus at Chittaranjan institute had earlier been inaugurated by the state government in order to set up a Covid-19 facility.
“For the Prime Minister’s knowledge, I would like to say that we have already inaugurated the campus. How did we do it? When Covid-19 was raging and we were in need of a centre (Covid-19 hospital), I went to the campus one day. We turned it into a Covid-19 centre as the state government had stake in it,” Banerjee said. Taking a jibe at the central government, she added, “The Prime Minister would be happy to know that the state has provided 11 acres of land and 25% of the funds for the campus. The recurring cost of ₹71 crore would also be borne by the state. That’s why, sometimes, the Centre and the states should work together for development.”
Banerjee put forth a set of demands before the prime minister, underlining the need for more seats for medical students, and more IAS and IPS officers in the state. She also pointed out that Bengal needs more vaccine doses, particularly with about 40% of the state’s residents yet to receive their second dose.
“We need to increase the medical seats to tackle situations like these, when more than 70 doctors in one medical college are getting infected with Covid in one go. Also, we need more IAS and IPS officers. Following your advice we roped in IAS and IPS officers from outside the state. The governor, however, raised questions without knowing that we were following the Prime Minister’s advice,” said Banerjee. Reacting to her comments, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted, “Mamata Banerjee is incorrigible. Notwithstanding the fact that she is on path of constant, needless confrontation, she must realise that inaugurating a building as Covid facility is NOT the same as inaugurating a Cancer facility in a hospital. Imagine what Bengal has to suffer!”