Announcement on flights, trains to mark 100-crore Covid-19 doses: Mandaviya

The 100 crore doses target is expected to be achieved by October 18 or 19, he said while launching 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.

"After 100 crore doses 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 told reporters.

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.

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

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

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.

"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.

The book celebrates the young volunteers, ''Sathiyas' (friends) of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, for finding ingenious new ways to bust myths and for taking the lead in making their community understand the importance of vaccination in keeping them safe from COVID-19.

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One of the most critical aspects during the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination drive was to provide factual information on a real-time basis to people.

Community radio stations played a significant role in disseminating correct information to people at a time when they were mostly confined to their homes.

The book also pays tribute to some of these community radio station announcers who enthused communities to take the vaccine and walked the talk by being the first to do so themselves.

On Biological E's vaccine, Mavdaviya said due to delay in receiving raw materials Biological E''s vaccine got delayed but by November end the data would be submitted.