Union Health Minister Mandaviya lauds India's "holistic response strategy" during Covid-19 pandemic

Estimating Economic Impact of Vaccination & related measures", Union Minister highlighted the economic impact associated with people's welfare during the COVID crisis.

Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday lauded the government's response in 'adopting a holistic response strategy' that helped the country in managing COVID-19 effectively.

Among several crucial elements, while releasing the working paper prepared by Standford University and the Institute for Competitiveness titled "Healing the Economy: Estimating Economic Impact of Vaccination & related measures", Union Minister highlighted the economic impact associated with people's welfare during the COVID crisis.

Highlighting a host of public welfare measures and their economic repercussions, Mandaviya said the government faced a cumulative impact of US$ 100.26 billion (4.90% of GDP) to assist 10.28 million MSMEs. Detailing further, he mentioned PMGKAY, under which free food grains were distributed to 800 million people, which resulted in an economic impact of approximately US$ 26.24 billion.

Mandaviya's remark came while delivering a keynote address virtually at the Standford 'The India Dialogue Session on the economic impact of vaccination and related matters.

"Under PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan, 4 million beneficiaries were provided employment which resulted in an overall economic impact of US$ 4.81 billion," he added.

The Minister noted that India was able to save more than 3.4 million lives by undertaking the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign at an unprecedented scale.

He further added, "India adopted a 'Whole of Government' & 'Whole of Society' approach, in a proactive, preemptive & graded manner; thus, adopting a holistic response strategy, for effective management of Covid-19."

Detailing the economic impact during the pandemic Stanford University's report further added COVID-19 Vaccination campaign yielded a positive economic impact by preventing a loss of US$ 18.3 billion, besides that the country added a net benefit of US$ 15.42 billion after taking into consideration the cost of the vaccination campaign.

( With inputs from ANI )