The Union Health Minister announced today (Saturday 2nd Jan, 2021) that Covid-19 vaccination will be provided free of cost throughout India to the first phase of beneficiaries. He also appealed to the public to trust the fact that the vaccination is safe and rumours regarding the vaccination are not to be trusted.

All states and Union territories will be conducting a dry run for the vaccination. While reviewing the preparations, the minister emphasised that the vaccine is absolutely safe. All details of the vaccination have been thoroughly checked. He said that earlier there have been rumours regarding the polio vaccination as well, but once the vaccination was on floor people started trusting it. The Union Health Minister said, “Our prime criteria in the vaccine trial is the safety and efficacy and nothing will be compromised.”

He tweeted, “Vaccine hesitancy was an issue even when we started polio immunisation drive but we must remember its success. I appeal to the people not to be misguided by rumours regarding safety & efficacy of #COVID19 vaccine. We will not compromise on any protocol before approving a vaccine.”

The minister also emphasised that the vaccination is not just free in Delhi, it will be free across India. The Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use was approved by a government appointed panel of experts on Friday 1st Jan’21. The first dry run was conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Assam on 28th and 29th December. 25 beneficiaries each were identified. No major issues were observed during this dry run. Fortunately all states have expressed their confidence in the operational guidelines and IT platform for large scale implementation.

(with inputs from media sources)