New Delhi: Amid the criticism over sluggish vaccination drive, the Union Health Minister on Wednesday said that the Centre has arranged more than 2 crore additional Covid-19 vaccine doses this month, apart from the regular supply. The Health Minister also urged the states to augment the vaccination drive and get all the teachers vaccinated before Teachers’ Day on September 5. “This month, apart from regular supply of Covid-19 vaccine, 2 crore additional vaccines are being made available. We have requested all states to vaccinate all school teachers before Teachers’ Day, which falls on September 5,” Mandaviya tweeted. इस महीने हर राज्य को वैक्सीन उपलब्ध करवाने की योजना के अतिरिक्त 2 करोड़ से ज़्यादा वैक्सीन की डोज़ उपलब्ध कराई जा रही हैं। हमने सभी राज्यों से अनुरोध किया है कि 5 सितंबर को मनाये जाने वाले शिक्षक दिवस से पहले सभी स्कूली शिक्षकों को प्राथमिकता देकर वैक्सीन लगाने का प्रयास करें। — Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) August 25, 2021 Mandaviya’s statement assumes significance as schools, colleges and educational institutions have been among the worst affected since the outbreak of Coronavirus. For close to 1.5 years, the schools have been closed and children confined to their homes. This has adversely affected the growth and nurturing of children. Till date, more than 58.07 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been supplied to the states and Union territories so far. In past 24 hours, more than 61 jabs were administered to people across the country. #Unite2FightCorona#LargestVaccineDrive ????? ?????https://t.co/EPKZJpwLC9 pic.twitter.com/4BpUTvhnm3 — Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) August 25, 2021 The spread of Coronavirus has slightly declined, with numbers of new cases being restricted to 30,000-40,000 per day but nobody is doubting the advent of third wave owing to India’s population, lack of vaccine coverage and oversight of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. India’s total caseload stands at 3.25 crore out of which 3.22 lakh are active cases. And, the worrying fact is that Kerala alone accounts for half of the cases, with numbers standing at 1.59 lakh active cases. Kerala reported more than 24,000 cases in last 24 hours while Maharashtra stood at second spot with 4,000 cases.
