PM Modi To Hold Meeting With DMs Of Over 40 Districts With Low Covid-19 Vaccine Coverage

Days after India achieved the 100 crore Covid-19 vaccinations milestone, Prime Minister is set to hold a review meeting with district magistrates of over 40 districts that have low vaccine numbers.  The meeting is scheduled to be held on November 3.

DMs of districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of the vaccine will be part of the meeting.

The 40 districts are spread across Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Meghalaya among other states, and chief ministers of these states will also attend the meeting.

Modi will be holding the meeting immediately on his return from abroad after attending the G20 and COP26 meetings, the PMO noted.

On Sunday, the government said that nearly 112 crore Covid vaccine doses had been provided to states and Union Territories so far.

According to data released by the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday, more than 13 crore balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs for inoculation, it said.

The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of Covid-19 vaccination throughout the country, the ministry said. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain, it added.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the states and UTs by providing them Covid vaccines free of cost.

In the new phase of the universalisation of the Covid vaccination drive, the Union government procures and supplies free of cost 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to states and UTs for inoculation, the ministry said.

(With PTI inputs)