Urge Centre to provide Covid-19 vaccines free of cost to all Indian citizens: Delhi CM Kejriwal

Earlier, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain had said that the coronavirus vaccine doses would be provided free of cost to all Delhi residents and asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government had made all preparations for the vaccination drive.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appealed to the central government to make the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) available free of cost for all citizens, saying it will be helpful in saving the lives of many Indians.

Chief minister Kejriwal had said on December 24 last year that a total of 5.1 million people, under the Centre’s primary category, would be administered Covid-19 vaccine doses in the first phase.

“Corona is the biggest epidemic of the century. It is very important to protect our people from this.I request the Central Government that the Corona vaccine should be provided free of cost to all citizens. The expenditure on this will be helpful in saving the lives of many Indians,” Kejriwal’s tweet roughly translated from Hindi read.

Earlier, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain had said that the coronavirus vaccine doses would be provided free of cost to all Delhi residents and asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government had made all preparations for the vaccination drive. “The Delhi government had so far made preparations to vaccinate 100,000 people in a day,” Jain added.

Chief minister Kejriwal had said on December 24 last year that a total of 5.1 million people, under the Centre’s primary category, would be administered Covid-19 vaccine doses in the first phase. He further segregated the primary category into healthcare and frontline workers, senior citizens and those with comorbidities. Kejriwal also said that each person would be given two doses.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier on Saturday that the country was ready with two Made in India vaccines for protecting humanity, adding the entire world was not only waiting for the shots but also watching how India runs the biggest vaccination program in the world. “Being the pharmacy of the world, India has supplied important medicines to all those in need in the world in the past and is also doing so now. The world is not only waiting for Indian vaccines but is also watching how India runs the world's biggest vaccination programme,” Modi said during an inaugural address of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention.

The Prime Minister will hold an interaction on Monday with chief ministers of all states and Union territories (UTs) to discuss vaccination rollout. This will be his first meeting with the CMs after the recent approval of the two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, for restricted emergency use by the country’s drugs regulator.

The national capital on Friday had logged 444 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease and 10 more related fatalities. which pushed the Capital's overall tally to 629,000. The second nationwide dry run of the vaccination roll-out was held on Friday at 150 sites across all districts of Delhi. Some of the sites which conducted the mock drill were the state-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital and private Fortis Hospital and Apollo Hospital, etc.