As the second wave of coronavirus has been indicating a declining trend in India for the last few days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that all Indians above 18 years of age will be administered free Covid-19 vaccine from June 21.
Addressing the nation, the Prime Minister made it clear that the states will be provided these vaccine doses free of cost from Central government.
Here are the key takeaways:
· State govt will not have to spend any amount now on vaccines, Centre to provide free jabs for everyone above 18 yrs. PM Modi concentrated on the availability of vaccines in the country.
· PM Modi announced that the vaccine drive would be centralized i.e. the vaccines would be procured by the government of India and states would get them for free.
· The centre would handle 25% of the vaccination work with the respective states; it would be implemented in upcoming two weeks. PM Modi has announced that from June 21, the free vaccine for people above 18 years.
· "In these two weeks, the central and state governments will together make necessary preparations according to the new guidelines.
· PM Modi also ensured that the government is working to ramp up the availability of the vaccine in the country. He further said that the process of procuring vaccines from abroad has been ramped up. He added that the trial for two children vaccines is underway and research has been conducted to develop an Indian nasal vaccine.
· PM said that the centre has decided to buy 75 pieces of vaccine production from vaccine makers, including 25% of state quota and provide it to state governments for free.
· “Private hospitals can continue to procure 25% of vaccines, but their service charge must be Rs 150 per dose”, said Prime Minister.
· PM Modi also said that in the last year, India has launched two made-in-India vaccines and so far, more than 23 crore vaccine doses have been administrated.
· PM also announced the extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna. He said, “The government of India has decided to extent Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna till Diwali 2021. Under the scheme, about 80 crore people will be provided free ration.”
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· Prime Minister further urged the youngster to create awareness about the benefits of vaccination, asked people not to believe in the rumours about the vaccine.
· PM concluded his address and said, “People should not think that relaxation in Covid curfew means that Covid-19 has ended. People must continue to follow Covid related protocols to win this battle.”