New Delhi: A dedicated vaccination centre for MPs inside the Parliament complex has seen a lukewarm response so far, with just 46 lawmakers having been inoculated till Wednesday afternoon, according to officials aware of the matter.
The centre started functioning on March 9 and will continue for the rest of the session, which is likely to end on March 25.
To be sure, this is not the only facility for MPs to get vaccinated as they can also avail designated Covid vaccination centres in their own constituencies or home states. “The special centre has been created as all MPs would be in Parliament for the session and they can easily get the Covid jabs in the Parliament complex itself,” said a senior official. Several senior ministers, including defence minister Rajnath Singh and home minister Amit Shah, have already been administered the first dose before the vaccination centre was set up.
Apart from the 46 sitting MPs, spouses of 7 lawmakers and one former MPs took the vaccine at the centre managed by government medical workers, officials said.
Nearly half the MPs are eligible to be vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the second phase of vaccination that got underway. Out of the 777 sitting members, 366 are above the age of 60 and meet the criteria for vaccination in the current phase. MPs who are above 45 but suffer from senior comorbidities are also eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine, though it was not specified how many would qualify in this category.
{{/usCountry}}Nearly half the MPs are eligible to be vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the second phase of vaccination that got underway. Out of the 777 sitting members, 366 are above the age of 60 and meet the criteria for vaccination in the current phase. MPs who are above 45 but suffer from senior comorbidities are also eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine, though it was not specified how many would qualify in this category.
{{/usCountry}}On the first two days of the centre being opened, 28 Lok Sabha MPs and 18 Rajya Sabha MPs took the vaccine -- 36 on the March 9 and just two on March 10. This included two ministers, Ratanlal Kataria and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, and some senior parliamentarians such as Radha Mohan Singh, Virendra Kumar, Om Prakash Mathur, Vijay Baghel and ET Mohammed Basheer.
“The aim is to ensure all MPs get vaccinated. Even if they go and take it elsewhere too, the larger objective is served,” said a third official.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to take a shot -- the indigenously developed Covaxin -- at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on March 1, the day vaccination started for eligible members of the general public after being restricted to health care and frontline workers since the drive began on January 16.