As the second wave of coronavirus has been indicating adeclining trend in India for the last few days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi onMonday announced that all Indians above 18 years of age will be administeredfree Covid-19 vaccine from June 21.
Addressing the nation, the Prime Minister made it clearthat the states will be provided these vaccine doses free of cost from Centralgovernment.
Hereare the key takeaways:
· State govt will not have to spend any amountnow on vaccines, Centre to provide free jabs for everyone above 18 yrs. PM Modiconcentrated on the availability of vaccines in the country.
· PM Modi announced that the vaccine drivewould be centralized i.e. the vaccines would be procured by the government ofIndia and states would get them for free.
· The centre would handle 25% of thevaccination work with the respective states; it would be implemented inupcoming two weeks. PM Modi has announced that from June 21, the free vaccinefor people above 18 years.
· "In these two weeks, the central andstate governments will together make necessary preparations according to thenew guidelines.
· PM Modi also ensured that the government isworking to ramp up the availability of the vaccine in the country. He furthersaid that the process of procuring vaccines from abroad has been ramped up. Headded that the trial for two children vaccines is underway and research hasbeen conducted to develop an Indian nasal vaccine.
· PM said that the centre has decided to buy 75pieces of vaccine production from vaccine makers, including 25% of state quotaand provide it to state governments for free.
· “Private hospitals can continue to procure25% of vaccines, but their service charge must be Rs 150 per dose”, said PrimeMinister.
· PM Modi also said that in the last year,India has launched two made-in-India vaccines and so far, more than 23 crorevaccine doses have been administrated.
· PM also announced the extension of PradhanMantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna. He said, “The government of India has decidedto extent Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna till Diwali 2021. Under thescheme, about 80 crore people will be provided free ration.”
· Prime Minister further urged the youngster tocreate awareness about the benefits of vaccination, asked people not to believein the rumours about the vaccine.
· PM concluded his address and said, “Peopleshould not think that relaxation in Covid curfew means that Covid-19 has ended.People must continue to follow Covid related protocols to win this battle.”