New Delhi: All citizens of India will get free Covid-19 vaccine, Union Minister Pratap Sarangi has said. He has said this amidst demand by the Opposition for free vaccine for all and not only in poll-bound Bihar as announced by the BJP.
Speaking to reporters after addressing a campaign meeting for the 3 November Assembly bypoll in Balasore, Sarangi, the Union Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Fisheries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that all people will be provided free of cost vaccines. An estimated Rs 500 will be spent on vaccination of each person.”
Modi had in a televised adddress to the nation on 20 October said that Indian scientists are in the process of developing several vaccines that are at different stages of clinical trials and the results seem encouraging.
It is to be noted that the governments of Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Puducherry have already announced free of cost Covid vaccines for the people of their States.
On Thursday, releasing the BJP manifesto for the Bihar Assembly polls, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had promised free Covid-19 vaccine for the State once it has been cleared by the ICMR.
She said: “When we reach the stage where scientists give clearance for large-scale production of the vaccine, we will make it available to the people of Bihar free of cost.”
The announcement created a controversy, with the opposition questioning why the vaccine was being made an election dole.