It's the year of protection: Governor Tamilisai Sounderarajan

Hyderabad: "Last year was like the year of pandemic, this New Year is like the year of protection," said Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Sounderarajan.

Launching the vaccination programme at NIMS hospital here on Saturday, the Governor said it was a day to express our gratitude to the frontline warriors and express gratitude for their role in fighting the pandemic.She also expressed her gratitude to the scientists, who with their relentless efforts, succeeded in coming up with our own vaccine. "We must be proud that we are not dependent upon any other country for the vaccine. Our own vaccine development is in the true spirit of self-reliant India as per the vision of our Prime Minister's Atma Nirbhar Bharat," she said.

She appealed to the people not to show any hesitancy in taking the vaccine. "We need not be afraid to take the vaccine. It is the safe vaccine and even if there are any allergic or other minor complications due to the vaccine, there are special arrangements in place to deal with such complications."

She appealed to all the frontline warriors and others to take the vaccine with confidence as the vaccines were developed and cleared as per the strict safety norms in place adhering to the international standards.

When asked when she was taking the vaccine, the Governor stated that as per the vision of our Prime Minister, the frontline warriors were rightly being given priority. "As the First Citizen of the State, I would take the vaccine along with all other citizens," she said.

The Governor thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the motivation and support to the scientists to develop the vaccine to protect the people from Covid-19.

"Our Prime Minister has personally visited the Bharat Biotech Laboratory at the Genome Valley in Hyderabad and motivated the scientists to come up with an effective vaccine to end the Covid-19," she added.

She stated that India, especially Hyderabad, is emerging as the pharmaceutical capital of the world. "In fact, we have been supplying medicines to more than 150 countries. Many countries are looking at India for the supply of our vaccine to protect their people. Soon our country will start supplying Covid-19 vaccines to different countries as we have started vaccinating our frontline warriors," the Governor said.

The Governor presented the frontline warriors, who took the first vaccination shots at NIMS, with flowers and appreciation letters after the vaccination and thanked them for being the frontline warriors.