Airplanes, trains, ships, metros to announce India’s 100 crore vaccination milestone

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New Delhi: The central government has planned a special spectacle for the moment when India would touch the milestone of administering 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday (October 14) said that announcements will be made on airplanes, ships, metros and at railway stations to mark the moment.

The milestone is expected to be achieved by October 18 or 19, he said.

“After 100 crore doses (milestone) is achieved, we will go in mission mode to ensure that those who have taken their first dose take their second dose too to ensure they are protected against COVID-19," he said at the launch of a coffee table book on COVID warriors.

The total vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 97 crores on Thursday with 73 per cent of all adults having administered the first dose and 30 per cent having received both doses.

“The nation is rapidly approaching the 100 crore vaccination mark! 97 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to date. Keep it up India, let us fight corona,” Mandaviya tweeted.

Mandaviya said that Spicejet will wrap planes with posters of one billion vaccine with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and healthcare workers on the day the target of 100 crore doses is achieved.

The coffee table book pays tribute to the ambulance driver, who without waiting for the last rites of his loved ones to be completed, rushed to resume his duties.

From eight states, 13 COVID warriors, including doctors, ambulance drivers, volunteers and other healthcare staffers have been identified as 'Sentinels of the Soil'.

He launched 13 videos on COVID-19 warriors and a coffee table, published by the health ministry, to pay tributes to them.

"As the vaccination drive picked up in India, the challenge was not only demographic but topographic too. The credit goes to the team of healthcare and frontline workers who took it upon themselves to ensure that everyone was covered. It was not an easy task as deep-rooted hesitancy had to be overcome and rampant myths about vaccination had to be countered," Mandaviya said.

The book salutes the doctors and nurses in a remote tribal area, who worked tirelessly to overcome the entrenched hesitancy against vaccination in his community, so that science could prevail over superstition.