In an effort to ramp up India's immunization campaign, more than 20 states, so far, have announced that they will provide free Covid-19 vaccines to their people. While some have made the coronavirus vaccine free for all, others have said that it will be free for people between the age of 18 to 45 only.
Many states, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal and others, have decided to provide free vaccines to the people in their respective states.
Till now, more than 14.19 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country to people above the age of 45, and health care and frontline workers, as part of the world's largest vaccination drive, which completed 100 days on 25 April.
Let's take a look at the states providing free Covid vaccines:
Delhi - The Delhi government will provide free COVID-19 vaccines to all those above 18 years of age in the city for which purchase of 1.34 crore doses has been approved, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday.
The government will make efforts to speed up vaccine purchase and administering it to the people, he said in an online briefing.
"We are working on a plan to start large-scale vaccination as soon as possible," he said.
Kejriwal said COVID-19 vaccines should have one price and appealed to the Centre to bring down the price.
He also appealed to vaccine manufacturers to bring down prices, saying it was time to help humanity and not to earn profit.
Maharashtra - Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in the country by Covid-19, has decided to vaccinate all citizens for free.
Bihar - The Bihar government has announced that it will provide free Covid-19 vaccination to all aged above 18.
"The Bihar government will provide COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to all above 18 years of age in the state," Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tweeted in Hindi.
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.
"In Jharkhand, the corona vaccine will be provided free of cost to people above the age of 18 by the state government," Soren, who heads a coalition government of JMM-Congress-RJD, said in a tweet.
Uttar Pradesh - The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to administer COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to all those above 18 years of age from May 1.
Goa - The Goa government will inoculate those between the ages of 18 to 45 against coronavirus free of cost, it announced on Thursday. The state will be procuring five lakh doses of Covishield vaccine initially, it said.
Punjab - Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said that COVID-19 vaccine will be supplied free of cost in all government healthcare facilities. He also said that vaccination of people in the age group 18-45 will be undertaken from May 1.
Haryana - The Haryana government has declared that it would be providing free vaccines to everyone above the age of 18 yrs at government hospitals in the state. The decision was taken during a state-level COVID monitoring committee meeting that was chaired by Haryana chief minister ML Khattar, news agency ANI reported.
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh - Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will offer the COVID-19 vaccine free of cost from May 1, when India's vaccination drive will widen to include all people over the age of 18, becoming the latest states to do so.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday afternoon chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
In Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the state government will pay for the COVID-19 vaccination for all those above 18.
Himachal Pradesh - The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to bear the expenses of Covid-19 vaccine for those aged between 18 and 44 years as the vaccination is free for people of 45 years and above.
Sikkim - Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has announced that the state government will provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all citizens between 18 to 45 years. He said the state government will bear the cost of the vaccines of the people in the age group of 18-45 if the Centre does not bear the cost.
West Bengal - State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that her government will give Covid-19 vaccines free of cost to every person of the state.
Speaking at a rally in Tapan, South Dinajpur, she said from 5 May, all eligible people in Bengal can avail the vaccines free of cost.
Assam - The Assam government will vaccinate everyone in the 18-45 age group for free from May 1 onwards, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said.
Odisha - Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced free COVID vaccination for all above the age of 18, days before the nationwide drive to inoculate a vast population is launched.
Immediately after Patnaik's announcement, the state government placed order for 387.34 doses of vaccines for the purpose.
Rajasthan - Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has announced free COVID-19 vaccination for people above 18 years, while affirming that the State government would be forced to slash the budget for its development works and social security schemes in order to allocate funds for inoculations.
“There are about 3.75 crore people in the age group of 18 to 45 years in Rajasthan. The State government will spend 3,000 crore on their vaccination," Gehlot said. Orders were being placed with the vaccine manufacturing companies, he added.
Gujarat - The Gujarat government has said that it will provide free-of-cost Covid vaccines to those between 18 and 45 years of age.
Telangana - The Telangana government will administer Covid-19 vaccine free of cost to all people aged above 18 years, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced. The state will spend 2,500 crore on the vaccination programme beginning on May 1.
Tamil Nadu - The Tamil Nadu government has announced that it will offer free Covid-19 vaccines at government hospitals to everyone above the age of 18. People in this age group will be eligible for the vaccine from May 1.
Kerala - Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state will continue giving vaccines for free. "The state government has earlier declared that the vaccine will be free here. We do not have the practice of changing our word every now and then," he added.
Andhra Pradesh - The Andhra Pradesh government has announced free Covid-19 vaccination for all those in the age group of 18-45 years during the mass inoculation programme starting from May 1. However, eligible citizens can avail the free vaccination facility in government-run healthcare centres.
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