Delhi govt will provide free Covid-19 vaccines to all above 18 years: CM Kejriwal

Everybody above the age of 18 years would be administered Covid-19 vaccines free of cost in Delhi, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday.

"Delhi government has decided to provide free vaccines to everyone above 18 years of age," said Kejriwal.

"Today we have given the approval for the purchase of 1.34 crore vaccines. We will make an effort to ensure that it is purchased soon and administered at the earliest to people," he added.

Speaking about the cost of the vaccines set by the manufacturers, Kejriwal said he hopes that the price remains constant for both the state and central governments.

Cost of the vaccines

"One vaccine producer said that they will provide vaccines to the state governments at ₹400 per dose and the second producer said that they will provide at ₹600 per dose. Both of them will keep the price at ₹150 per dose for the Central government. I hope that the prices remain the same for all," he said.

"I appeal to vaccine manufacturers to bring down the price to ₹150 per dose. You have an entire lifetime to earn profits. This is not the time to do that when there is a raging pandemic. I also appeal to the Central Govt to cap the price (of vaccines) if needed," added the Delhi CM.

Bharat Biotech has fixed the price of its Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, at ₹600 per dose for state governments and at ₹1,200 per dose for private hospitals.

On the other hand, Serum Institute of India (SII)'s Covishield will be available at a price of ₹400 per dose to state governments and ₹600 per dose to private hospitals.

Pointing at the infection rate among children, Kejriwal said that if the vaccines currently being administered in India are safe for those below 18 years of age, they should be inoculated too.

"We have seen children below 18 getting infected too. Some died. It is time to think for them too. If these vaccines are safe and effective for them, they should be given these. If not, then I hope new vaccines will be developed soon that will be effective and safe for children," he said.

Third phase of vaccination drive

The central government recently announced the expansion of the vaccination drive to include everybody above the age of 18 from 1 May.

Registration for this category will begin from 28 April on the CoWIN platform and Aarogya Setu app, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. The process and documents required to get the vaccine remains the same as before.

Under this phase, the vaccine manufacturers would supply 50% of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the central government. They would be free to supply the remaining 50% doses to state governments and in the open market.

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