Why Telangana Health Minister Eatala Changed His Mind On Covid Vaccine In The Last Minute

HYDERABAD: India has launched the world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine drive and with that every state is gearing up to vaccinate its citizens. While people still have doubts and concerns regarding the safety of the vaccine, Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender has volunteered to be the first one to take the vaccine shot.

But he later announced that he will not undergo the immunization process as per the strict instructions from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PM had earlier announced that frontline health workers will be the first ones to receive the vaccine and owing to this announcement, Eatala decided not to take the vaccine shot.

The Prime Minister Office (PMO) warned all the political leaders not to be the first ones to take the shots. Even if their aim is to inspire confidence among people regarding the vaccine’s safety, they must await their turn and let the frontline workers take the shot.

Earlier, the Haryana government asked for the public workers like MP and MLAs to also be part of the first phase immunization process. Even the Health Ministers of various states demanded the same and wanted the political leaders to be included in the first stage.

The PMO office announced and made it clear that their first priority will be the health experts and frontline workers and after that will come elderly people who are 50 and above. India will be vaccinating 3 crore people in its first phase of vaccination.

The aim in the second stage will be to successfully vaccinate 30 crore Indians. The focus will be on elderly people and those who are suffering from serious illness.