Vaccine hesitancy greatest threat in beating the pandemic: Adar Poonawalla

Vaccine hesitancy is now the greatest threat in overcoming Covid-19 pandemic, Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India (SII), said on Wednesday even as the government continues its push to get all adults vaccinated.

"The vaccine industry has worked tirelessly to provide enough stocks for the nation. Today, there are over 200 million doses available with states," Poonawalla tweeted. "I urge all adults to get vaccinated as soon as possible."

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, too, on Wednesday appealed all eligible citizens to get vaccinated, even as he said the number of fully jabbed surpassed partially vaccinated people. "We will win the battle against Covid-19 together," he tweeted.


Earlier this month, the government started a 'har ghar dastak' campaign for achieving full Covid-19 vaccination, asking the magistrates of districts having low coverage to find everyone who missed their schedules.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi even held a review meeting with the representatives of those districts with less than 50% coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine.