The world’s largest Covid vaccination drive in India began at 11 am on Saturday, with a sanitation worker at Delhi’s AIIMS the first person in the country to receive a shot.
Manish Kumar, a sanitation worker at Delhi’s AIIMS, was the first person to be vaccinated.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan was present there on the occassion, as part of the national drive.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan kicked off the drive in the state while visiting the Hamidia Hospital in state capital Bhopal.
On this occasion, the first vaccine shot was given to Sanjay Yadav, a ward boy at the Hamidia Hospital.
There is enthusiasm among all people regarding the corona vaccination drive in the state, with health workers eagerly waiting for their turn to get the vaccine jab. The Chief Minister, state Health Minister Prabhuram Choudhary, state Medical Education Minister Vishvas Kailash Sarang and state Finance Minister Jagdish Deora arrived at the hospital and heard Prime Minister Modi’s address to the nation on the rollout of the nationwide vaccination drive from Saturday. After Modi’s address, the vaccination drive started in the state where the first vaccine shot was given to ward boy Sanjay Yadav.
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Chouhan reviewed the Covid situation at Hamidia Hospital along with other ministers and officials and held discussions with health officials and staff posted there.
In the first phase of vaccination in Madhya Pradesh, nearly 4,17,000 healthcare workers would be vaccinated in a phased manner. In the first week, nearly 57,000 healthcare workers would be vaccinated at 150 health institutions while in the second week nearly 55,000 workers affiliated to 177 health institutions would be vaccinated. These health care workers would also receive a second dose of the vaccine shot after 28 days. The timely vaccination of all healthcare workers of the state would be ensured in a phased manner.
Military doctors, paramedics
Indian military doctors, paramedics and hospital staff are being vaccinated against the coronavirus disease across the country as inoculation drive kicked off on Saturday.
The beneficiaries — each are being given either of India’s two indigenous vaccines — Covaxin or Covishield. Every beneficiary will receive two doses of the same vaccine, 28 days apart.
The armed forces played a pivotal role in mitigating the sufferings of the people in the face of novel Coronavirus’ onslaught. Right from rescuing stranded Indians from Covid-19 affected areas, such as China, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, and others to providing relief materials to all across the country.
The armed forces have put in place all its medical and manpower resources.
Hospitals of the armed forces and medical facilities have been dedicated to treat Covid-19 patients and some of its bases were turned into quarantine centres.
Talking about efforts in the fight against Covid-19, Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh had said that the Navy, in fulfilling responsibilities to the nation and its citizens, turned into ‘Care-Givers’ during the pandemic.
“Naval aircraft contributed to transportation of samples and test equipment on numerous occasions. naval hospital facilities were made available to the civil administrations at various places to cater to the increased healthcare requirements. In support of the national effort against COVID, naval personnel also displayed innovation in manufacture of solutions like indigenised PPE, and healthcare equipment,” Admiral Singh had said.
The Navy undertook its largest ever non-combatant evacuation exercise under the aegis of Operation Samudra Setu, wherein, nearly 4,000 Indian nationals in Iran, Maldives and Sri Lanka were brought back home during the pandemic.
While the natural tendency is to look inwards in difficult times, the government and Indian Navy looked outwards, extending support and succour to friends and partners during the pandemic. Missions Sagar I and II, involving deployment of naval medical teams, medicines and humanitarian aid to friendly foreign countries across the Indian Ocean Region, received wide-spread recognition, reiterating India’s commitment to the region.
Prompt implementation of preventive measures across the Navy aided in minimising the disruptive impact of the pandemic on operational readiness.
Similarly, Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane had said that Indian Army reached out and helped all the state governments and the citizens.
“To tackle this pandemic, we had opened number of quarantine camps, facilitated their treatment and their return to their respective homes once their quarantine period was over,” General Naravane said.
He pointed that yeoman service and the selfless devotion was put in by the medical fraternity. “For the last six months, they have been day in and day out treating the Covid patients in the services hospitals or the civilian facilities, without caring for their own health and safety,” Indian Army Chief had said.
The Indian Air Force carried out international effort towards Covid task. A goodwill flight to Wuhan in China was taken on C-17 employed to airlift 15 tons of medical supplies to China and to evacuate 112 Indian and foreign nationals to India on February 26 and February 27, 2020. Immediate evacuation of Indians from Iran was carried out by employing C-17 on March 10, 2020. The force has also evacuated 49 DRDO personnel (including 25 Covid-19 positive personnel) from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to Vishakhapatanam on November 4, 2020.
The Indian Air Force supplied medical equipment and supplies to Male, Kuwait, Congo, South Sudan and other countries.
Besides the all-out efforts of armed forces, its various organisations and arms like Defence Research and Development Organisation, Defence Public Sector Undertakings, Ordnance Factory Board, Indian Coast Guard, Cantonment Boards, National Cadet Corps had contributed in their own ways to fight the pandemic.