PM Modi's mother Heeraben gets first dose of COVID-19 vaccine; PM posts heartfelt appeal

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and announced that his mother Heeraben Modi has received her first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. He also urged people to motivate people around to get the 'Made in India' COVID-19 vaccination.

PM Modi Takes the first dose of Phase-2 Vaccine

On March 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Tweeting a picture of himself receiving the jab, PM Modi said, "remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked in quick time to strengthen the global fight against COVID-19."

PM Modi Gets 1st Covaxin Jab

"I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine. Together, let us make India COVID-19 free!" he added. According to ANI, Sister P Niveda, from Puducherry, administered Bharat BioTech's COVAXIN vaccine to PM Modi. According to sources, the early morning visit to AIIMS was to avoid inconvenience to commuters and no special route was laid for the Prime Minister.

Cost of Vaccination

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan informed that the government has fixed the price of Covid vaccines at private hospitals and will be free of charge at the government hospitals. He tweeted in Hindi, "MoHFW_INDIA  has issued guidelines for vaccines in private hospitals. Under this, the maximum vaccine fee has been fixed at Rs 250 per dose. Whereas all government hospitals will get the vaccine free of cost."

Speeding up the Vaccination drive

According to the Union health ministry, a large number of private facilities will be involved in order to boost up the vaccination drive. Around 10,000 private hospitals under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, more than 600 hospitals under CGHS and other private hospitals are empanelled under State Govts. the government will also use medical college hospitals, district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, Health Sub Centers and Health and Wellness Centers for the vaccination drive. Health Insurance Schemes have been given permission to participate as Covid Vaccination Centers.

As per the Health Ministry, India has the capability to produce 70-80 million doses of the Covishield vaccine each month and 150 million Covaxin doses each year.