Himanta Biswa Sarma slams Congress over Rahul Gandhi's rhetoric on "free COVID vaccine"

Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for politicising free COVID-19 vaccination policy by the Centre. Himanta Biswa Sarma accused Congress of misleading people when the Central Government inoculated people above 45 years for free. Further, Sarma alleged that Congress is unhappy when the state governments led by them are compelled to give free vaccinations while not receiving the credit for the same. 

The Minister tweeted in response to Rahul Gandhi, who earlier in the day, attempted a sarcastic swipe at the Centre while emphasising the word "free" for COVID-19 vaccination. The former Congress President and Wayanad MP was seemingly taking a dig at the Centre over the pricing of the vaccines as the vaccine manufacturers have revealed the prices of the vaccines for Centre, state governments and private hospitals and the issue was politicised ver the price disparity. 

India's COVID-19 vaccination

The Centre began phase-1 COVID-19 vaccination from January 16 with the healthcare and front line workers being the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine jab, followed by people above 60 years of age and 45 above with comorbidities in phase-2 from March 1. The phase-2 was later extended to all citizens above 45 years of age from April 1. The vaccines were free for all to be inoculated at Government centres while private hospitals charged Rs 250 per dose. The vaccination drives still remain free for eligible population groups comprising healthcare workers, frontline workers and population above 45 years of age in government vaccination centres that receive doses from the Centre.

Moreover, the vaccination will be liberalised from May 1 onwards for 18+ and registrations for the same has begun on CoWIN portal and Aarogya Setu app from April 28. Documents such as Aadhar, Driving Licence, Passport among others can be accepted for registration.

After the Centre announced the new vaccination policy with state governments given the liberty to procure vaccines directly from manufacturers, several state governments have also announced free vaccination for citizens between 18+ while the 45 years and above continue to receive vaccines under the Central government's vaccination drives across the country.

Moreover, India remains the fastest country to reach 13 crore vaccinations in the world. India took 95 days to administer 13 crore vaccine doses, for which the US took 101 days while. As on April 29, over 15 crore people have been vaccinated across the country, according to Union Health Ministry's data on COVID-19.