COVID-19 Vaccine Will Be Free Across The Country: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan declared that the COVID-19 vaccine will be available free of cost for people across the country. The health minister further urged citizens to avoid paying any attention to rumours related to the vaccine.

The Union Health Minister on Saturday also appealed to the citizens to avoid any kind of misinformation about the vaccine.  Further, he also mentioned that the safety & efficacy of vaccines is their priority. Moreover, he said that many rumours were spread during polio immunisation as well but individuals took the vaccine & India is currently polio-free.

Dr Vardhan also reviewed the vaccination dry run at the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital in Delhi today.

Also Read: COVID-19: Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Approved For Use

On being asked if the COVID-19 vaccines will be available free of cost like in Delhi, Dr Vardhan replied, "not just in Delhi but the vaccine will be free of cost for everyone across the country."

#WATCH | Not just in Delhi, it will be free across the country: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on being asked if COVID-19 vaccine will be provided free of cost pic.twitter.com/xuN7gmiF8S

— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2021

Additionally, Dr Vardhan also said that the 1st phase of free COVID-19 vaccination will be distributed among the most prioritised beneficiaries of the nation which include 1 crore healthcare workers and 2 crore frontline workers.

According to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), the target of the dry run for COVID-19 vaccine is to "assess operational feasibility" within the use of COVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) application in a field environment also to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation.

Also Read: COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Covishield’ Gets Approval, 10 Things To Know