@the_news_21
Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has questioned the government decision to charge for Covid-19 vaccine in the Phase-II that began on March 1. In Phase-II a person over the age of 45 with co-morbidity or 60 can get inoculated at a designated centre. The price per dose has been kept at Rs.250.
Prithviraj Chavan said, “In the Phase-I the Union government had procured 1.65 crore doses of vaccine at a cost of Rs.210 per dose. According to the budget speech delivered by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on February 1, Rs.35,000 cr has been earmarked for vaccination drive. In this amount, at the cost of Rs. 210 per dose more than 1.5 billion doses can be procured. These can inoculate 75 crore population twice covering almost entire adult population of India. If budgetary provisions are made then, why charge common people?”
Chavan further said, “Large countries such as USA, UK or Canada are providing free vaccines to its citizens either through insurance scheme or by budgetary provisions. I demand all beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogy Yojana (PMJAY) (Aayushman Bharat) must be given free Covid-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, despite lofty budgetary announcements and India being largest supplier of the Covid-19 vaccine, Modi government is digging into the common man’s pocket.”
