India will inoculate entire adult population by December: Dr Harsh Vardhan

Amid speculations of a possible third wave of Covid-19, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday has reiterated that the entire adult population of the country will be inoculated by December 2021. "India is inching closer to administering 360 million vaccine doses. A feat achieved in less than 6 months since the launch of our vaccination drive and we are committed to inoculating our entire adult population by December 2021," said Dr Vardhan.

New Delhi: Amid speculations of a possible third wave of Covid-19, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday has reiterated that the entire adult population of the country will be inoculated by December 2021. "India is inching closer to administering 360 million vaccine doses. A feat achieved in less than 6 months since the launch of our vaccination drive and we are committed to inoculating our entire adult population by December 2021," said Dr Vardhan.

As per health ministry statistics, 35.28 crore vaccine doses have been administered to date under the nationwide vaccination drive. Dr Vardhan said that vaccinating everyone is key to containing and ending the pandemic. "The need of the hour is to speed up the pace of vaccinating people across the world," said Dr Vardhan in his inaugural address at the global Co-WIN conclave.

The conclave was attended by dignitaries from 142 countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, St.Kitts and Nevis and Zambia and other countries. "Co-WIN is the crown jewel of India's Digital India initiative. This platform shall go down in history for facilitating inoculation of a large percentage of the world's population with ease, while simultaneously ensuring complete transparency," said Dr Vardhan.

He said that throughout this pandemic, India has been keeping a close eye on the fast-evolving global situation while continuously devising and revising effective strategies to manage Covid-19, guided by scientific evidence and following best practices.

Monday's global conclave on Co-WIN was done after several counties have approached India to help them to start a similar IT platform to keep track of their vaccination process. Dr Vardhan said that at a time when India has given importance to built such an IT platform, a strong emphasis was also given in the field of vaccination.

"Our scientists worked at lighting speed to provide us with 2 vaccines against Covid-19 and in record time which helped us kick start our vaccination drive in mid-January," said Dr Vardhan and added, "with a country of more than 1.3 billion people, we faced a mammoth challenge of ensuring fair and equitable distribution of the vaccines as well as their last-mile delivery."

He said that Co-WIN is the bedrock of India's vaccination drive that ensures overall management of citizen registration, appointment scheduling, vaccination, and certification. "The transparent system allows tracking of each dose of vaccine, monitoring of supplies at vaccination facilities to record the demand at a granular level. It has enabled vaccine accessibility and inclusivity for all," added Dr Vardhan.