Circulate videos of religious leaders to tackle Covid vaccine rumours: PM Modi

During his meeting with the district officials of at least 40 districts with low Covid-19 vaccination coverage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that rumours and misconceptions among people around the jabs are a major challenge and the problem may become visible in concentrated areas going ahead.

During his review meeting with senior officials of districts with low Covid-19 vaccination coverage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked them to take the help of local religious leaders in order to eradicate rumour and misconception among people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he has always found leaders of all religion “great advocates of vaccination”. 

“There’s a major challenge in front of you regarding rumour and misconception among people. Going ahead, this problem may become visible in concentrated areas…An effective solution to this is trying to make people as aware as possible," Modi told the officials.

The Prime Minister directed the officials to make short videos of two to three minutes of local religious leaders and circulating them across households in order to erase any rumour and misconception regarding Covid-19 vaccines. “[I] have always found leaders of all religion great advocates of vaccination,” he added, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

On Wednesday, Modi chaired a Covid-19 review meeting with the senior officials of at least 40 districts in Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, among other states, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

He pointed out that states that have achieved 100 per cent Covid-19 vaccination with first dose among its adult population had also “faced different challenges in many areas.” “There were challenges of geographical situation, resources but these districts had overcome those challenges to go ahead,” Modi said, adding that the districts with low vaccination coverage can achieve the same feat by trying to have a “healthy competition” in the teams they have formed to combat Covid-19.

India inoculated 41,16,230 Covid-19 vaccine jabs in the past 24 hours, thereby taking the country’s cumulative vaccination coverage to 107,29,66,315 (1.07 billion or 107.29 crore) as of 7am on Wednesday, according to data shared by the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW). Of the overall figures, as many as 73,61,08,324 eligible beneficiaries have been administered the first dose of the vaccine whereas 33,64,33,302 have been given the second. According to health ministry data, 14,68,60,146 vaccine doses are still available with all states and Union territories.