Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday night said that his government will provide COVID-19 vaccine to people above 18 years of age for free.
Mr Soren's statement came after the centre announced a "liberalised" policy making all adults above 18 years of age eligible to get inoculated from May 1 and allowing state governments and private hospitals to purchase vaccines from manufacturers.
Opposition parties alleged that the policy implies that the central government has abdicated its responsibility to provide free vaccines to citizens between the age group of 18 and 45 years.
"In Jharkhand, the corona vaccine will be provided free of cost to people above the age of 18 by the state government," Mr Soren, who heads a coalition government of JMM-Congress-RJD, said in a tweet.
The government is working day and night to help people amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and "I am confident that with the cooperation of all, we will beat Corona again".
In order to expand and liberalise the countrywide vaccination drive, the Union Government on April 19 announced the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy which would come into effect from May 1.
A key feature of the strategy is that the "vaccine manufacturers would supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to Government of India and would be free to supply remaining 50 per cent doses to state governments and in the other than Government of India channel," the ministry said.
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