In his televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister said the government itself will buy 75 per cent of the total vaccine production from vaccine manufacturers
Government of India will provide free vaccines to the states to inoculate all people aged above 18 years, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as he outlined his government’s vaccination policy. In his televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister said the government itself will buy 75 per cent of the total vaccine production from vaccine manufacturers and give it free to the state governments.
“No state government of the country will have to spend anything on the vaccine. Only the Government of India will provide free vaccine to all the countrymen,” Modi asserted. Referring to the criticism that Centre left states to fend for themselves to procure jabs, Modi said the Centre has changed its vaccine policy only on the demand from states. “But some states are now saying that the previous system was better. So, a decision has been taken to revert to the earlier policy that was in place before May 1.”
The Centre’s vaccine policy has been has been widely criticised — by multiple state governments to civil society to courts of the country — amid severe shortages. The Supreme Court had also recently questioned the Centre over its vaccination strategy. Experts even warned that India’s sluggish inoculation drive might leave enough room for the deadly virus to hit the country for the third time. Speaking on the ferocious nature of the pandemic, Modi said: “This is the biggest epidemic in the last hundred years, it is a tragedy. The modern world had neither seen nor experienced such an epidemic. Our country has fought together on many fronts with such a big global pandemic.” He said his government has increased the vaccination coverage in country to 90 per cent from just 60 per cent in 2014.
Comments
Post a Comment