JD(U) defers from PM Modi, urges COVID vaccination of all MLAs & MPs before Budget session

In a big development on Saturday, BJP's ally JD(U) differed from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to politicians to not jump the queue for COVID-19 vaccination. During his meeting with the Chief Ministers of all States on Monday, Modi stressed that the public representatives do not fall in the category of frontline workers and advised them to take the vaccine only when their turn comes. However, JD(U) spokesperson Ajay Alok demanded that the employees and elected members of State legislatures and Parliament should be vaccinated in the first phase itself.

According to him, this would enable the smooth functioning of the Budget session. Moreover, Alok reckoned that such an initiative shall quell the rumours regarding the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier, the Centre had turned down a proposal by Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy who also sought the inoculation of all MLAs and MPs on a priority basis. 

Read: Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Vaccination On At 3000 Centres Pan-India; AIIMS Dir Inoculated

COVID-19 vaccination in India

On January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, paving way for the approval of COVISHIELD and COVAXIN. Manufactured by the Serum Institute of India with technology transfer from Oxford University-AstraZeneca, COVISHIELD is a Recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus vector vaccine with its overall efficacy at 70.42 per cent. On the other hand, COVAXIN is a Whole Virion Inactivated Corona Virus Vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and NIV.

While its phase 3 efficacy data is not available, it has been approved in "public interest" in the clinical trial mode so that there can be more options for vaccination in case of infection by mutant strains. Both the vaccines have to be stored between 2-8 degrees celsius. Earlier in the day, PM Modi launched the pan-India rollout of the novel coronavirus vaccination drive via video conferencing.

Congratulating the citizens for their resilient fight against the pandemic, he requested them to shun conspiracy theories about the vaccines. In a total of 3351 sessions held across India on Saturday, 1,91,181 beneficiaries were inoculated. Manish Kumar, a machine operator at AIIMS’ sanitation department, became the first person in the country to be administered the vaccine. BJP MP Dr Mahesh Sharma, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and SII CEO Adar Poonawalla were among the prominent personalities to get inoculated.  

Read: Amit Shah Hails COVID Vaccine Rollout; Ex-BJP Chief In Karnataka To Discuss Cabinet Rejig