Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that citizens across the country should receive free Covid-19 vaccines, two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pledge of free vaccines against the disease in his Bihar’s electoral manifesto unleashes a storm.
“The whole country should receive free Covid-19 vaccines. It is the right of the whole country. All people are concerned about the coronavirus. So the vaccine should be free for the country, ”Kejriwal told reporters after inaugurating two flyovers in northeast Delhi. I was answering a question about the promise of the BJP survey of free Covid-19 vaccines in Bihar.
Opposition parties and public health experts have questioned the promise, saying the policy should not be linked to immunization, even as the governments of Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh made similar announcements about free vaccination on Tuesday.
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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who published BJP’s 11-point pledge document in Patna ahead of the elections in Bihar, said on Thursday that as soon as a Covid-19 vaccine is available for large-scale production , everyone in the state will get the vaccination free. “This is the first promise that is mentioned in our electoral manifesto,” Sitharaman said.
The BJP later clarified that the vaccine would be delivered to all citizens. He said it was up to state governments to give it free after receiving it at a nominal cost from the Center. Experts questioned its inclusion in an electoral manifesto and argued that this was different from a central or state government policy announcement.
Bihar goes to the polls in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. The results will be announced on November 10.
Tamil Nadu Prime Minister K Palaniswami also secured free vaccinations for everyone in his state on Thursday. Hours later, the Prime Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, did the same.
Kejriwal separately also hinted that schools in Delhi are likely to remain closed even after October 31. The government had last extended the closure of schools until October 31 on October 4.
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