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Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking free COVID-19 jabs for the 18-44 age group, saying the state was unable to incur nearly Rs 1,000 crore on it due to stressed resources.
CM Hemant Soren said that the procurement of COVID vaccines by States on their own during the ongoing pandemic “stands against the principle of cooperative federalism”.
“The State of Jharkhand like other States has always received vaccines free of cost from the central government for all other programs such as Pulse Polio and Routine Immunisation. This is probably for the first instance in the history of Independent India that the States have been mandated to procure vaccines on their own. Such a mandate under the ongoing challenging and unprecedented circumstances where the entire nation is struggling for over a year, stands against the principle of cooperative federalism,” wrote Chief Minister Soren in his letter to the Prime Minister.
“In this regard, it is pertinent to note that the rates specified by the central government for procurement of vaccines by the State for the age cohort of 18 to 44 years are significantly higher than the rates at which vaccine is being procured by the central government for the beneficiaries in the age cohort of 45 years and above. This dichotomy will not stand the scrutiny of reasonable classification under the fundamental principles of the Constitution of India,” he said.
