Covid-19: Quick vaccination is key to opening the economy, say experts

A day after India vaccinated almost 8.6 million people against Covid-19 in a single day, government experts said that quick vaccination is the key to opening the economy

A day after India vaccinated almost 86 lakh people against COVID-19 in a single day on Monday, government experts said that quick vaccination is the key to opening the economy and added that the aim is to vaccinate one crore people every day.

"The third wave of the pandemic can be stopped if covid appropriate behaviour is followed and a majority of people are vaccinated," said Dr. V. K. Paul, the member (Health) of NITI Aayog, on Tuesday, according to a PIB release.

Chairperson, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India (NTAGI), Dr. N. K. Arora said, " Our aim is to vaccinate at least one crore people every day. Our capacity is such that we will easily be able to administer 1.25 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine every day."

Underlying the importance of vaccination in order to enable India to open its economy and to resume normal work, Dr Paul said, "We need to do our daily work, maintain our social life, open schools, businesses, take care of our economy; we will be able to do all this only when we are able to vaccinate at a fast pace".

"The second wave has now receded and it is the best time to take the COVID19 vaccine," he added.

Dr. NK Arora also laid emphasis on the significance of people's participation and public awareness.

"Jan Bhagidari and Jan Jagran are very essential to eradicate the fear of vaccination. Ultimately it is in the hands of the public to come forward and get vaccinated," he said.

He further assured that there would be no shortage of vaccines in the country and that the vaccination drive would reach all, including hilly, tribal, and very sparsely populated areas.