New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked MLAs to share their experience of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 on social media in order to allay people’s fears and misconceptions about inoculation.
”It would be great if the members of this assembly, just like the ordinary citizen, get vaccinated in the hospital and highlight it on their social media in order to spread awareness about the same and help people overcome their fears and reservations around it,” the chief minister said in the House.
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To clarify any misconceptions that the public might have about the vaccine, he said he and his parents, who got vaccinated on March 5, were in ”perfect health”.
”I would like to appeal to the people of Delhi to get rid of such misconceptions and get vaccinated on a large scale,” he said.
According to Kejriwal, it was the collective effort of citizens, governments and different organisations that helped Delhi stay strong through the pandemic.
”In the past one year, the entire world faced the repercussions of coronavirus. It was truly a difficult time for all during which the citizens, various organisations, Prime Minister, Home Minister, and Union Government collaborated on a large scale. All our BJP MLAs too proved to be extremely helpful. The epidemic could not have been controlled by a single government or individual,” Kejriwal said.
Delhi provided the mechanisms of plasma therapy and home isolation to the world, he added.
Extending his gratitude towards the health staff throughout the city, the chief minister asserted that the most important work was done by doctors and other frontline workers.
”We politicians can commend ourselves as much as we want, but neither the prime minister nor Kejriwal went to hospitals to treat patients. It was done by the doctors,” he said.
He also thanked the scientists due to whose efforts India was able to provide two vaccines for COVID-19 to the world. The Delhi government on Tuesday announced in its annual budget that the COVID-19 vaccine would be administered to people free-of-cost at its hospitals in future phases of the inoculation drive.
Currently, vaccination at the hospitals run by the Centre and the Delhi government is free for senior citizens and those in the 45-59 age group with comorbidities, while an amount of Rs 250 is being charged at private hospitals.
While the medical challenges that resulted out of the pandemic were being taken care of through vaccination, Kejriwal said loss of employment because of COVID-19 was another issue that needed to be addressed.
With numerous people losing their jobs in the last one year, it was the Delhi government’s initiative of the ‘Job Portal’ that helped people find employment and bring the economy, albeit slowly, back on track, he said.
”Through the initiative of the ‘Job Portal’, employers were connected to the citizens seeking jobs. This proved to be highly successful and lakh of citizens gained employment due to it, enabling them to earn a living,” he added.
