Covid-19: Vaccine hesitancy biggest threat to overcoming pandemic, says Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla

The government is reaching out to districts where less than 50% of the eligible population has been vaccinated.

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla has said vaccine hesitancy is now the greatest threat in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic. “The vaccine industry has worked tirelessly to provide enough stocks for the nation. Today, there are over 200 million doses available with states. I urge all adults to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Vaccine hesitancy is now the greatest threat in overcoming this pandemic,” he said in a tweet.

India on Thursday crossed the 115-crore vaccination mark with 73.44 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours. More than 22.45 crore doses are still available with states and union territories and the Union government has provided 128.49 crore doses to the states and UTs till date.

Saying that there was no shortage of vaccine doses in the country, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya urged people to come forward for the second dose.

Till late Wednesday evening, the country had administered over 75.57 crore first doses and over 38.11 crore of the second dose. The government is reaching out to districts where less than 50% of the eligible population has been vaccinated.

India reported 11,919 Covid-19 cases on Thursday with active caseload at 1.28 lakh cases with weekly positivity rate of 0.94%.