311 Lok Sabha members fully vaccinated against COVID-19: Om Birla

New Delhi: Ahead of the monsoon session of the Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday said that 311 members of the lower house have been fully vaccinated.

The speaker further informed that all arrangements for conducting COVID-19 RT-PCR tests have been made. "23 members have not administered any vaccine for some reason. However, a 24-hour arrangement of conducting tests has been made in the Parliamentary complex," he said while addressing a press conference in the national capital.

Birla also assured that all COVID-19 protocols will be followed in the upcoming monsoon session.

"In view of COVID-19, arrangements to make the members sit at an appropriate distance will be made," he said.

During the pandemic, close to 380 meetings have been held that dealt with legislative work, Birla said.

Terming it as a 'big challenge' to conduct the monsoon session 'smoothly', he said, "Running the proceedings of the House smoothly while following COVID protocols will be a big challenge. However, preparations are going on continuously at many levels, under which all MPs have been vaccinated. According to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine has been given to more than 500 Lok Sabha MPs so far. Along with this, all the employees of Parliament have also been vaccinated."

The monsoon session is scheduled to take place from July 19 to August 13 and will have 19 business days.