Varanasi: Amid the world’s biggest rollout of vaccination against Covid in India, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Friday sought to dispel fears on safety and efficacy of the vaccines during a virtual interaction with vaccine recipients, doctors and vaccinators in his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.
“India has launched the world’s biggest vaccination drive and the credit goes to the medical fraternity and scientists, who developed two vaccines in a short span of time. The ‘made in India’ vaccine is also being provided to other countries,” said the PM.
Giving full credit to the scientists of the country for the vaccine's success, the PM said that there was no political decision involved here. "We have followed whatever our scientists have suggested," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
While dispelling the doubts and hesitation about the drive, Modi also made the nation listen to the experiences of some of the beneficiaries and Covid vaccinators of the first round of drive through video conferencing.
In his 25-minute live interaction, the PM spoke to five beneficiaries and vaccinators of his parliamentary constituency, including a matron at the district women’s hospital Pushpa Devi, an ANM at the Shiv Prasad Gupta divisional hospital Rani Kunwar Srivastava, chief medical superintendent of the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya district hospital Dr. B Shukla, senior lab technician at DDU district hospital Ramesh Chandra Rai and an ANM at Hathi Bazar community health centre (CHC) in Sevapuri Shrinkhala Chauhan.
Responding to the PM, Dr. B Shukla said that 81 medical staff, including himself, got vaccinated on the first day of the drive and went to perform their day's duty after a 30-minute wait. “There is no confusion among the medical staff about the vaccine’s efficacy,” he said adding that over 10 lakh vaccines have been administered in India so far and no major side-effect has been reported so far. "Symptoms like minor headache and mild fever are very common in any kind of vaccine, but that snn
Before the first round of vaccination we had detailed discussion on this and we resolved to go out and spread the message that even in a minor vaccine, there are symptoms like minor headache or mild fever. We told people that these are very normal after-effects of a vaccine and one might get in Covid vaccine as well. If still anybody had any doubt, I volunteered to get vaccinated first when it started on January 16," Dr Shukla told the PM.
"Your words about safety and efficacy of the vaccine carry much weight. It enhances people's faith," the PM told Dr Shukla
The PM wanted to know from them their experience after getting vaccinated.