Modi hails yoga ‘shield’ as India’s vaccinations hit record
INDIA opened up free vaccinations to all adults in an attempt to bolster its inoculation drive on Monday (21), as Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a muted International Yoga Day hailing the practice’s ‘protective’ properties against the virus.
India gave out a record 7 million vaccine doses on Monday for free after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had worsened a second wave that killed hundreds of thousands.
The country’s vaccination drive has significantly slowed in recent months due to a shortage of jabs and hesitancy, even as it battled a vicious surge in cases in April and May that overwhelm the healthcare system in many places.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reversed a policy under which states made their own purchases from drug makers and along with private hospitals were administering doses to people aged 18-45.
Addressing a Yoga day program, Modi said that Yoga is a ray of hope and source of strength in the fight against Covid. Linking the practice of yoga to the battle against the pandemic, Modi announced the ‘M-Yoga’ application in collaboration with the World Health Organization.
The application will have many videos of yoga training based on ‘common yoga protocol’ available in different languages.
‘When the unseen coronavirus knocked on the doors of the world, no country was prepared for it in terms of resources, capability and mental toughness. We all have seen that in such difficult times, yoga has become a great source of inner strength,’ Modi said.
‘Yoga tells us that so many problems might be out there, but we have infinite solutions within ourselves. At times, the lives of people exist in silos. These divisions reflect in the overall personality as well. The shift from silos to union is Yoga. A proven way to experience a realisation of oneness is yoga,’
Yoga shows us the way from stress to strength and from negativity to creativity, Modi asserted.
India on Monday reported 53,256 infections, the lowest since March 24. Infections hit a peak of about 400,000 a day in May and deaths soared to around 170,000 in April-May.
India, with an overall case load of 29.9 million, is second-highest globally behind the US.