PM Modi urges people to overcome COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday applauded the country's commendable momentum on the vaccination front and urges the nation to overcome vaccine hesitancy. The Prime Minister said the threat of COVID-19 remains and people have to focus on vaccination as well as following coronavirus protocols.

New Delhi:Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday applauded the country's commendable momentum on the vaccination front and urges the nation to overcome vaccine hesitancy. Addressing the "Mann Ki Baat" radio programme, PM Modi said that India achieved a historic achievement by vaccinating more than 86 lakh people in a day.

"The battle we the countrymen are fighting against corona is continuing, but in this fight, together, we've achieved many an extraordinary milestone! Just a few days ago, our country accomplished an unprecedented feat. On June 21, when the new phase of vaccine drive began, more than 86 lakh people made a record of receiving free vaccines doses in a day," he said.

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He talked to two villagers of Dulariya village in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh who informed about vaccine hesitancy being spread in their village through social media. The Prime Minister counselled them to take the COVID vaccine amidst their doubts. PM informed the villagers to not believe in rumours and said, "I have taken both doses. My mother is almost a hundred years old, she has taken both vaccines too. Please do not believe any negative rumours relating to vaccines."

He said that those who are spreading rumours on vaccines, let them be. "We all will do our work and ensure people around us get vaccinated," he said. "I want to tell villagers to get rid of vaccine hesitancy. There are many villages in India that are 100 per cent vaccinated," PM Modi stated.

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The Prime Minister said the threat of COVID-19 remains and people have to focus on vaccination as well as following coronavirus protocols. "I urge you all to trust science. Trust our scientists. So many people have taken the vaccine. Let us never believe in negative rumours relating to the vaccine," he added.

He further praised the awareness and intelligence of people living in villages during COVID-19 and said, "People in the villages made quarantine centres, and made covid protocols keeping in mind the ground level requirements. In villages, people did not let anyone sleep hungry and didn't let the agriculture work stop either. They also ensured supply of milk and vegetables in nearby villages, they not only sustained themselves but sustained others too."

(ANI)