New Delhi, June 7: The central government will provide free coronavirus vaccines to states and union territories for inoculation of all above 18 from June 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, announcing that the Centre will take over the 25 per cent state procurement quota.
Asserting that vaccine supply would be increased significantly in the coming days, the prime minister said the Centre has now decided to buy 75 per cent of jabs from vaccine makers for free supply to states, while private sector hospitals will continue to procure 25 per cent of vaccines but they cannot charge more than Rs 150 per dose over the pre-fixed price.
In his over-30-minute-long address to the nation, Modi also sought to take on critics of his government’s vaccine policy, saying many states had demanded decentralisation of the vaccination programme and some had even questioned the selection of priority age groups before realising the original strategy worked better.
The change in the government’s vaccine strategy comes days after the Supreme Court on June 2 asked the Centre to place on record all relevant documents and file notings reflecting its thinking culminating in the COVID-19 vaccination policy, and states questioning the central government over the alleged shortage of vaccines. Justice D Y Chandrachud had questioned the vaccine procurement policy and also raised the issue of the digital divide questioning the policy of mandatory registration on CoWIN App for jabs.
Prior to this, the Centre had submitted to the apex court last month that the price factor will not have any impact on ultimate beneficiary of vaccines since all state governments have already declared their policy decision that each state will be administering vaccine to its citizens free of cost
In his televised address, Modi, however, highlighted that it was due to the demands for de-centralisation from many states that his government decided to allow them 25 per cent procurement from May 1. Government sources said a plan for a centralised free vaccination was presented to the prime minister on June 1 on completion of one month of the decentralised model. Modi had given in-principle approval in that meeting and the groundwork for it began on June 1 itself before being announced on Monday, they added.
“Various voices were raised like why age-group was chosen for vaccination. Someone said why should the Centre decide on the age limit. Some even said why the elderly were being given a priority. All kind of pressures were created. A section of media ran a campaign,” Modi said in his address.
However, states soon realised the difficulties of the vaccination exercise when they were given the choice, he said, adding that many of them began to say that the earlier mechanism was better. “It has been decided today that the central government will take over the 25 per cent doses assigned to states and this will be implemented in the next two weeks. From June 21 (International Day of Yoga), the Centre will provide free vaccines to states…Till now, crores of people got free vaccines, now 18 years segment will be added to this,” Modi said.
“For all people, whether it is the poor, the lower middle class, the middle class, or the upper-middle class, under the central government programme, everyone will get free vaccines,” the prime minister said. (PTI)
