AS THE vaccination programme got underway across the country with hopes that it would help control the uptick in cases in several States, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik also received their the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.

 

Naidu and Purohit took their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Government Medical College in Chennai and appealed to all those eligible to get themselves vaccinated. “I took my first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at Government Medical College, Chennai today. I will be taking the 2nd dose after 28 days,” Naidu tweeted from the official Twitter handle of the Vice President Secretariat. The Vice President, 71, appealed to the people to come forward and receive the vaccine to defeat the deadly virus. Shah took the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, officials said. Doctors from the Medanta hospital administered the vaccine to Shah, a Home Ministry official said. S Jaishankar took a jab of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and said he felt secure after the inoculation against COVID-19.

 

“Got my jab. For the curious, it was Covaxin. Felt secure, will travel safely,” Jaishankar tweeted and posted a picture of getting the vaccine. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, his wife Pratibha Pawar and MP daughter Supriya Sule received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a civic hospital in Maharashtra, a senior health official said. The former Union Minister was administered ‘Covishield’ vaccine, which is manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) in collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, he said. Sule (51) represents Baramati Lok Sabha seat in Pune district.

 

Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani also took the shot at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, officials said. Among those who got inoculated at a private hospital in Gandhinagar was Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s wife Anjali, who said she had taken the vaccine to “send a message that people need not fear and must get vaccinated to defeat coronavirus”.