NEW DELHI : Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday urged the Government to be prepared for last-mile delivery of vaccine and its response should not be like the lockdown.
Warning that time should not be wasted in formulating the country’s vaccination strategy later, the Congress leader, during a discussion on the Covid-19 situation in the House, said, “We must be ready for the last-mile delivery of the vaccine; it should not be like the lockdown. We can’t waste time to formulate vaccination strategy later.”
Speaking on the discussion on the statement made by Health Minister on the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Azad suggested encouraging domestic manufacturers of vaccines, renaming Covid Dedicated Hospitals as Infectious Diseases Hospital and setting up of four more regional labs and also a Centre for Disease Control.
Referring to news of vaccine trials progressing worldwide, he said, ” The Government should be over-cautious about the efficiency of the vaccine as we have a large and young population.”
Citing his experience as the Health Minister in the UPA Government, he reminded that he had taken the first shot of the H1N1 vaccine developed by India in 2010.
Noting that hand-washing had gone up significantly after WHO issued its best practices guidelines, the Congress MP recommended that the price of soaps like Lifebuoy and sanitisers should be halved. (AGENCIES)
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