'Bihar to provide free Covid-19 vaccines, even at private hospitals', says Nitish Kumar
The chief minister after getting vaccinated also urged the people of the state to come forward and get vaccinated .
On the first day of the second phase of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that vaccines will be made available free of cost in the entire state, including at private hospitals.
"Vaccination will be absolutely free in the entire Bihar state. Such facility will be made available even at private hospitals, it will be facilitated by the state government," said Kumar after being administered the first dose of coronavirus vaccine Covishield, the Oxford University/AstraZeneca shots produced in India by the Serum Institute of India in Pune.
The chief minister of Bihar took the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine on his birthday. The country on Monday began the next phase of the coronavirus immunisation drive by making vaccine available for the people aged above 60 years of age and people in the age bracket of 45-59 years with special co-morbidities.
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Kumar got vaccinated at the IGIMS hospital in Patna in the presence of the state health minister Mangal Pandey. The chief minister after getting vaccinated also urged the people of the state to come forward and get vaccinated . He also appealed to them to not let their guards down and keep following Covid appropriate behavior.
Reiterating the availability of free-of-cost Covid-19 vaccine to all the people in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Bihar wing said, "Bihar is ready for vaccination of elderly and 45+ critically ill people. The cost of vaccination in private hospitals of ₹250 will also be borne by the NDA government. The largest vaccine drive of the world is progressing rapidly in the country as well as the state."
As the country progressed to the next phase of the vaccination drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. The Prime Minister took the indigenous vaccine Covaxin produced by Bharat Biotech.
India on Monday recorded 15,510 new coronavirus cases. The country's active coronavirus caseload has reached over 1.68 lakh.
