'Priority groups to get vaccine first, my turn will come later': MP CM Shivraj Chouhan

Amid the politics over the DCGI's nod to restricted emergency usage of Coronavirus vaccines in the country, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated on Monday that he will take the coronavirus vaccine later as he wants priority groups to get the jab first.

Addressing commissioners, district collectors and superintendents of police in the state through video-conferencing, CM Chouhan said, "I have decided that I will not get vaccinated for now, first it should be administered to others. My turn should come afterwards, we have to work to ensure that priority groups are administered with the vaccine."

The CM also took to Twitter to apprise over the details of the meeting.

"All the districts of Madhya Pradesh are ready for vaccination. All the arrangements have been made. I have decided that I won't take the vaccine for now. The priority groups should be vaccinated first after which my turn should come," he tweeted in Hindi.

On Saturday, nearly 75 health workers underwent dummy vaccination in the Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal as part of the first dry run of the COVID-19 vaccine programme in the state. An official having knowledge of the situation has said 20,000 to 25,000 coronavirus warriors would first receive the vaccine when the inoculation process begins in the state as reported by PTI.

The state government has recently ordered the closure of all COVID care centres in the state from January 1, barring those in Bhopal, as the state reported lower occupancy of beds. State additional director (health) Veena Sinha on Sunday stated that these centres were opened as per need and currently, no patient or suspected COVID-19 case remained admitted at these centres, following which the decision was taken to shut them. She added that COVID-19 patients are getting treatment at hospitals and are also isolated at home.

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DCGI approves two vaccines

The DCGI on Sunday approved the two vaccines -- Covaxin developed by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Covishield manufactured by Pune based Serum Institute of India in collaboration with Oxford University and AstraZeneca -- for restricted use in an emergency situation.

The vaccine approval came a day after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) made recommendations to the DCGI to grant permission to the two vaccines for their restricted emergency usage. Apart from the two vaccines, the DCGI has also granted permission to Cadila Healthcare to conduct the phase-III clinical trials of its vaccine candidate.

(With inputs from Agencies. Image: PTI)

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