The Maharashtra government will vaccinate all citizens free of cost against coronavirus, state Minister Nawab Malik announced Sunday.
Nawab Malik added that the move was discussed in the state cabinet, according to news agency ANI.
He said: “In the last cabinet, we had discussed that mass vaccination should be there in the state of Maharashtra and free vaccination should be there and yesterday Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar has said that we will vaccinate the entire population of the state above 18 years of age in free of cost.”
He further said that the global tenders will be invited for the vaccinations. “Definitely, he (Pawar) said the best and cheap medicine which will be provided to us globally we will purchase from them, a global tender will be there in the state of Maharashtra. The process has been started and we are trying our best to procure as earlier as possible to start the mass vaccination in the state.”
Earlier several states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, UP, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Goa had decided to administer COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to all those above 18 years of age from May 1.
The most affected state Saturday reported 67,160 new coronavirus infections and 676 deaths due to the virus. The caseload rose to 42,28,836 while the death toll reached 63,928.
