NEW DELHI, April 8:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday received the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine here at the city’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), giving a message to the people that “vaccination is among the few ways we have, to defeat the virus”.

The Prime Minister also advised the citizens through a Twitter message: “If you are eligible for the vaccine, get your shot soon. Register on CoWin.gov.in.”

“Got my second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at AIIMS today (Thursday). Vaccine is among the few ways we have, to defeat the virus,” Modi tweeted.

He also posted a photograph while taking the second jab.

The Prime Minister has taken Covaxin, India’s homegrown vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.

The two nurses who administered the Covid-19 vaccine to the Prime Minister on Thursday are P. Niveda from Puducherry and Nisha Sharma from Punjab.

Niveda was also involved in administering the first dose of Covid to the Prime Minister on March 1.

He was the first beneficiary on March 1 as the second phase of nationwide vaccination against the deadly pandemic began.

Amid the “second wave” of Covid-19 across the country, the Centre allowed administering vaccine shots at workplaces with around 100 eligible beneficiaries from April 11. Currently, people at the age of 45 and above are eligible for vaccination.

The Union Health Ministry recently said India has surpassed the US to become the fastest Covid-19 vaccinating country in the world with an average daily rate of 30,93,861 vaccine doses.

So far, over 9.01 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in India, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
IANS