Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged district officials to collect data on children being infected with COVID-19. He also urged the district officials to guard against Covid vaccine wastage, saying “even single dose going waste denies someone protection shield.”
Describing the virus as “dhoort” and “bahurupia” in Hindi, Modi in an interaction with district magistrates (DM) and field officials also underlined concerns expressed in various quarters about the threats it poses to the youth and children. “Due to coronavirus mutations, there have been more concerns about youngsters, kids. We will have to be more prepared,” he said, asking officials to collect data on COVID infection and its seriousness among youth, kids in their districts.
On vaccine wastage, PM Modi said that every dose wasted is denying someone protection shield against the disease. “There is the issue of vaccine wastage. When vaccines are delivered to you all, we must ensure there is no wastage. You all must monitor this in both urban and rural areas. Stopping vaccine wastage is critical and you all must ensure that we don’t have any (wastage).” he said.
“Coronavirus is invisible and keeps changing variants. Hence, our approach should also be dynamic and upgraded continuously. The virus has made your work more demanding and challenging. In the midst of new challenges, we need new strategies and solutions. It becomes important to use local experiences and we need to work together as a country,” PM Modi said.
