Maharashtra government will vaccinate all its citizens free of cost, told State Minister Nawab Malik to ANI. Nawab Malik added that the move was discussed in the state cabinet and global tenders will be invited for the vaccinations. : India has been grappling with coronavirus with daily cases breaching the 3 lakh mark. To speed up the vaccination process, the Central government has announced that people above the age of 18 to 45 will be able to get vaccinated from May 1 in phase 3 of the vaccination drive.
On Saturday, Bharat Biotech (BBL) released its price for COVAXIN - offering Rs 600/ dose for state governments and Rs 1200/dose for private hospitals. While it has maintained that 50% of its capacity is reserved for Centre's free vaccine rollout at Rs 150/dose, BBL has priced exports at $15 - $20 (Rs 1123 - 1498). In comparison, SII has offered its vaccines to the state govt at Rs 400 and to private hospitals at Rs 600, retaining Centre's price at Rs 150/dose. Earlier, around 17 states came forward to provide vaccines free. The states that will provide free vaccines for its residents are-- Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Haryana. The registration for vaccine for those above the age of 18 will start on May 28. The registration process will be done on CoWin platform and the Aarogya Setu app. Talking about the coronavirus cases of Maharashtra, the state reported over 67,000 new cases, and 676 deaths, in the last 24 hours. This has taken the total tally to 42,28,836 and the death toll reached the mark of 63,928. On the other hand, India reported over 3.49 lakh new cases and 2,767 deaths in the last 24 hours.