With India inching closer to the 100-crore Covid vaccination milestone, the government has chalked out a plan to showcase it as a major achievement in its fight against the pandemic.
More than 96.75 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far, as per figures on the CoWIN website.
Under the mega outreach plan, the BJP has asked its ministers, MPs and MLAs, and national and state functionaries to attend events in pockets across the country, sources in the party have said.
The focus of the outreach plan would be states that go to polls next year, including the politically significant Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home turf Gujarat and Punjab, where the Congress is battling internal crises one after another.
According to the sources, the 100 crore milestone is expected to be reached by Monday or Tuesday. The sources said the immunisation exercise has slightly slowed down due to the festivals of Durga Puja and Navratri. The government now plans to step up the exercise after Dussehra to reach the 100 crore mark at the earliest.
Under the outreach plan, BJP leaders, including ministers and lawmakers, will visit vaccination centres that clocked 100 per cent vaccination and felicitate doctors and healthcare workers, sources said.
The milestone will be showcased as an achievement of the centre's fight against Covid led by Prime Minister Modi.
The party will also use the opportunity to spread awareness about the centre's other welfare schemes, the sources said.
Party leaders have also been instructed to share videos and photographs of these events and submit details of their media coverage, the sources added.
After initial hiccups due to low supply and CoWIN snags, the centre's Covid immunisation exercise picked up pace after a policy reversal in which it took back control of vaccination from states and also announced free jabs for all above the age of 18 years.
According to CoWIN data, over 27.57 crore people in the country are fully vaccinated and over 69 crore people have received one dose.
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