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COVID vaccine | Govt to bear expenses for 3 crores frontline workers: PM

New Delhi
January 12, 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Monday that the Central Government will bear the expenses of vaccinating nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and suggested that public representatives, a reference to politicians, should not be part of this initial exercise.

Interacting with state Chief Ministers, Modi underscored the enormity of what he described as the world�s biggest vaccination exercise, which begins from January 16, saying over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people who have received them in over 50 countries in around a month so far.

The two already approved made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines are more cost-effective than any other in the world and have been developed as per the country�s needs, he said in his remarks in the meeting called to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the vaccination roll-out.

Besides the two vaccines Covishield developed by Oxford and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech�s Covaxin, four others are in the pipeline, Modi said, asserting that India�s fight against the pandemic will enter a decisive stage with the vaccination roll-out.

More vaccines may be available when the exercise moves into the second round, he added.