New Delhi, Jan 13: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced that his AAP government will provide free Covid-19 vaccine to city residents if the Centre “failed” to do so.
Kejriwal made the announcement amid preparations for the world’s largest vaccination drive, to be launched across the country on January 16 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal said that he had earlier appealed to the Centre to provide vaccine free of cost to the people across the country, considering the impact of coronavirus pandemic.
“There are a lot of people who won’t be able to afford the vaccine. I had appealed to the Centre to provide free vaccine to all the people of this country. If required, and if the Centre doesn’t do it, my government will provide free vaccine to all Delhi residents,” Kejriwal said.
He said the vaccine would first be administered to ‘Corona Warriors’ like health and frontline workers in the national capital.
Kejriwal hoped that the people’s struggle in 2020 will come to an end and they would get some respite from the pandemic, which has so far infected 1,04,95,147 Indians, including 15,968 in the last 24 hours.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader appealed to the countrymen to not spread any misinformation on the two approved coronavirus vaccines, believing that the Centre along with scientists concerned have followed all protocols and safeguards before launching them.
“There should be no doubt regarding it (vaccine).”
Kejriwal’s announcement comes days after the drug regulator gave the nod to ‘Covishield’ and ‘Covaxin’ for emergency use. The Oxford University and AstraZeneca have developed ‘Covishield’, which is manufactured in India by Serum Institute of India. Bharat Biotech has developed ‘Covaxin’.
