Rajasthan: All above 18 to get free Covid-19 vaccination; govt to spend Rs 3000 crore

Jaipur: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday announced that all those above 18 years will get free Covid-19 vaccination in the state. This will put a burden of Rs 3000 crore on the state exchequer. As the state government will bear the cost, the announcement cleared the confusion prevailing over the cost of Covid-19 vaccination among the public. The Congress-led state government accused the central government of being biased and leaving Rajasthan fend for itself as the Serum Institute of India announced to sell COVAXIN at Rs 600 per dose to states.

In a series of tweets, chief minister Gehlot said that the government had decided to get all those above 18 years vaccinated for free by spending about Rs 3000 crore.

“The budget of states would not have disturbed, had the union government borne the expense of vaccination for 18+ age group just like it did for 45+ and 60+,” said Gehlot.

Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot had earlier asked the Centre to follow ‘one nation, one vaccine, one rate’ principle to help mitigate suffering of people fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pilot questioned the determination of three different rates for a single dose of the same vaccine. “The Centre is buying a vaccine from two manufacturers for Rs 150 per dose. The same vaccine’s 6-crore doses are being purchased from a manufacturer under the PM Care Fund at Rs 210 and 1-crore doses from another manufacturer at Rs 310, which has left the people wondering.”