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Updated April 25th, 2021 at 18:52 IST

Rajasthan govt announces free COVID-19 vaccines to everyone above 18 from May 1

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot on Sunday, has announced that his govt will provide free COVID-19 vaccine for all above the age of 18 years after claiming shortage.

Reported by: Sudeshna Singh
Rajasthan
PTI | Image:self
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As the second wave of COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday announced that his government will provide COVID-19 vaccines for all those who are above the age of 18 years for free. With Gehlot's announcement, Rajasthan joins the league of States such as Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Sikkim who have announced free vaccines to all adults above 18.

Rajasthan announces free vaccines 

Chief Minister Gehlot took to his official Twitter account to announce the news. Outlining that the State government is spending over Rs 3000 crore, he announced on the microblogging site that all citizens of the State aged 18 and above will be administered the COVID vaccine free of cost. 

Having made the announcement, in another tweet he took a jibe at the central government for not providing all the eligible people free vaccines. "It would have been good had the Central government on the request of the State governments provided free vaccines to those between 18-45 years of age, just like those between 45-60 years of age. States governments would have been relieved from bearing this extra expenditure and the budget of the States would not have been disturbed," he wrote. 

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier in the day, the State along with three other States- Chattisgarh, Punjab and Jharkhand, all ruled by Congress, had blamed the Centre for a 'step-motherly treatment and expressed doubt that they would be able to vaccinate the citizens from May 1 if not provided vaccines. Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma outlining that they have the capacity but not the vaccine had asserted, "States should get the supplies. The Government of India should provide vaccine as per their requirements."

Vaccination opened for all above 18 

This comes after the Centre government on April 19 liberalized the third phase of its COVID-19 vaccination drive to include all aged 18 and above. To meet the need for vaccination, the Centre has asked the vaccine manufacturing companies to scale up their production with the help of International as well as national players and has allowed them to supply 50 per cent of the produced doses to state and private hospitals directly, which means now the States and the private hospitals do not have to go through the entire process, and can directly get it from the manufacturers at the price declared by them. At present, India has in use two vaccines- Covaxin and Covishield, and will soon have the Sputnik V in the race. Besides, there are around five more vaccine candidates in the advanced clinical stages of development. 

(Credits- PTI)

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Published April 25th, 2021 at 18:52 IST

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