Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that he has appealed to the Centre to provide the coronavirus vaccines free of cost, adding that if the Centre does not provide it free of cost then the Delhi government would provide it free in the national capital.
“I request everyone to not spread misinformation about Covid vaccine. I had appealed to Central government that COVID vaccination should be provided free of cost to all. If Centre does not do it and a need arises, the vaccine will be provided for free to people of Delhi,” he said.
While on a visit to the family of Dr Hitesh Gupta who lost his life in the line of Covid-19 duty, the CM said, “We had started a scheme to encourage corona warriors and under it, I have come to provide help of Rs 1 crore to the family. His wife is educated and we will recruit her in Delhi government.”
The announcement has come a day after the arrival of first lot of coronavirus vaccines in the national capital. The manufacturer Serum Institute of India dispatched the Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine Covishield to Delhi. The consignment had 34 boxes which weighed 1,088 kg.
On Sunday, the Delhi government had become the first state in the country to announce the schedule for coronavirus vaccination saying that the vaccination drive will begin on January 16.
“During the first phase, health care workers will be vaccinated at hospitals. The vaccines will be administered at 89 sites in Delhi. Of these, 36 are government hospitals and 53 are private hospitals,” Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said.
The drug regulator of India has approved two vaccines so far. They have approved Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for emergency use in the city.
Delhi on Tuesday reported 386 new coronavirus cases, taking the cumulative tally to 6,30,892. The number of new cases reported came out of 75,913 tests conducted on the previous day.
The positivity rate was 0.51 per cent. 16 patients died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate was 97.79 per cent.
