Coronavirus Vaccine Update: Rajnath Singh lauds scientists, PM Modi for COVID-19 vaccination drive

As India started its vaccination drive against the coronavirus, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday appreciated country's scientists and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his persistence and determination in the development and inoculation process of the vaccine.

"Today Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken decisive steps towards conquering the corona crisis by launching the biggest vaccination campaign not only in India but the whole world. In the first phase, it has been resolved to bring the vaccine to three crore people," Singh tweeted, along with the hashtag #LargestVaccineDrive

"The whole country is appreciative of the scientists who have played a role in preparing India's indigenous vaccine against corona. The persistence and determination with which Prime Minister Modi steered the country, right from the creation of the vaccine to the inoculation campaign, no matter how much we praise him for this, it will not be enough," he added.

Singh further said the country's doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, policemen and other frontline workers who fought against the virus are now going to get a protective shield in the form of a vaccine.

"In the next phase, the vaccination campaign will reach 300 million people. It will certainly be a huge achievement," he added.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India's vaccination drive against the novel coronavirus via video conferencing.

Billed as the world's largest vaccination program, covering the entire length and breadth of the country, the drive aims to first inoculate millions of its healthcare and frontline workers and reach an estimated 3 crore people by the end of its first phase.

The drugs regulatory body of India has currently approved two vaccines. Pune-based Serum Institute of India has developed the Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University while the Covaxin has been developed by Hyderabad's Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Medical Council of research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology.

(ANI)

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