Maharashtra to vaccinate all its citizens against Covid-19 free of cost

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, state Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said that in the time of crisis the government would help its people

In a significant move, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government has decided to vaccinate the people of the state free of cost.

The ongoing vaccination drive and the plans ahead were discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting last week.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that global tenders would be floated and vaccines would be purchased for the people. “The Chief Minister would make an announcement soon,” he said.

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Speaking to reporters on Sunday, state NCP chief spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said that in the time of crisis the government would help its people.

“The Deputy Chief Minister, who is also the Finance Minister, has spoken about it….we will float tenders and get the best vaccine…we need to produce nearly 14 crore vaccine doses and two jabs are needed,” he said.

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The government’s top officials are also in touch with the management of Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which is rolling out Covishield and Covaxin, respectively.

Both companies have given vaccines to the Centre at Rs 150 per dose.

Serum Institute has offered the vaccine at Rs 400 per dose for state governments and Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals, while Bharat Biotech vaccine will be available at Rs 600 per dose for state governments and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals.