Amid the decline in coronavirus cases and availability of COVID vaccine by next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, October 19 had hinted that the Centre will use ‘digital health ID’ to ensure immunisation for every citizen against the deadly viral disease.
Addressing the inaugural function of the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020, PM Modi said, “India is now at the forefront of vaccine development for Covid-19. Some of them are in advanced stages. We are not stopping here; India is already working on putting a well-established vaccine delivery system in place. This digitised network, along with the digital health ID, will be used to ensure immunisation of our citizens.”
PM Modi also spoke about India’s reputation at a global level when it comes to vaccine manufacturing and how India has stood as an inspiration for the world in terms of controlling the virus.
Modi said, “Beyond Covid too, India is known for its proven capacity to produce vaccines at a low cost. More than 60 per cent of the vaccines for global immunisation is being manufactured in India. We included the indigenous Rotavirus vaccine in our Indradhanush immunisation programme. This is a successful example of a strong partnership for long-lasting results. The Gates Foundation has also been a part of this effort.”
“With India’s experience and research talent, we will be at the centre of global health care efforts. We want to help other nations, enhance their capacities, in these sectors,” added the prime minister.
The prime minister asserted that COVID-19 disease does not discriminate on grounds of religion or race and thus, people across the world must work in harmony and support one another to tackle this catastrophe. He said, “It has taken a global pandemic to make us realise, yet again, the importance of teamwork. After all, the disease does not have geographic boundaries; disease does not discriminate on the grounds of faith, race, gender, or colour.”
Earlier, PM Modi, during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort, had announced that the government will provide a unique digital health ID to every Indian as part of the National Digital Health Mission.
In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister stated that the Unique Health ID would carry details of diseases, diagnosis, report, medication etc about each citizen and all this will be stored in a common database.
“India’s size, scale, and diversity have always made the global community curious. Our population is almost four times that of the US; many of our states have as many people like other nations in Europe and Asia. Yet, thanks to people power and a people-driven approach, India kept its Covid-19 death rate very low,” added Modi while highlighting the efforts India put in containing the pandemic.
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He also said, “ We are seeing a decline in the number of cases per day and the growth rate of cases. The highest recovery rate of 88 per cent has been possible because India was one among the first countries to adopt a flexible lockdown, when the total cases were just a few hundred,” and pointed out that India was one of the first countries that encouraged its people to wear masks.
It is anticipated that PM Modi might talk about all these aspects in his address to the nation, today at 6.