With COVID-19 pandemic continuing unabated, the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh as well as Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh on Wednesday decided to provide vaccines free to all citizens over 18 years of age.
The decision was first announced by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on social media, followed in the afternoon by MP counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Baghel said in his tweet, “We will take all necessary steps to save the lives of our citizens. We request the central government to ensure availability of adequate vaccines.”
Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “The prime minister has given a gift of relief that from May 1 onwards all over 18 years of age are to be vaccinated. We will receive detailed guidelines from the central government, but in Madhya Pradesh all over 18 years of age will be vaccinated free. The vaccinations programme will be further expanded.”
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The decisions come following the Union government’s announcement of opening up vaccination for all over 18 years of age from May 1, albeit with a rider. Only those over 45 years of age will be given free vaccines according to the Centre’s decision while those between 18-45 years of age will have to pay for it (themselves or the state government to bear the cost of the vaccines).
With the Union government allowing vaccine manufacturers to fix prices of 50 per cent doses that they are allowed to sell directly to state governments/open market, the Serum Institute of India on Wednesday announced the price of doses for the government sector as Rs 400 per dose and that for private sector as Rs 600 per dose.
Cases swell in both states
The announcements of free vaccines come even as COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to swell in both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. On Wednesday, MP recorded 13,107 new cases in preceding 24 hours – a new high. Another 75 deaths were reported in this duration. The number of active cases has crossed 85,000. The positivity rate in the state is continuing to be over 24 per cent, though it showed a slight dip on Wednesday (24.02 per cent against 24.76 per cent earlier). This means that every one of four samples are testing positive.
In Chhattisgarh, as on Tuesday night, 15,625 fresh cases were reported in 24 hours along with 181 deaths. The number of active cases in the state has gone up to 1,25,688. The positivity rate in the state continues to be around 30 per cent – a worrying situation.
Baghel said that an amount of Rs 1 crore has been sanctioned to the Raipur district collector to purchase new oxygen cylinders and keep supply going adequately. Capital Raipur is worst affected with 2225 new cases and 76 deaths in the past 24 hours (as on Tuesday night). The district has 20,745 active cases.
