New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced centralized vaccination drive in the country in an effort to control the drastic impact of second wave of Covid-19. Addressing the nation on national television at 5 PM today, the Prime Minister said that Centre would take the full responsibility of the procurement of coronavirus vaccines for the states.
PM Modi announced the scrapping of decentralised policy rolled out on May 1 and added that the Centre will account for procurement of 75% of COVID-19 vaccines from the manufacturers and subsequently provide these free to the States for inoculation.
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"25 per cent of vaccination work with states will now be handled by the Centre. Vaccines will be procured by the Government of India and be given to States for free. It will be implemented in the coming two weeks," PM Modi said, adding that both State and Centre will work as per new guidelines in the coming two weeks.
He said the states will be informed about the number of doses they will be getting a week before the supply. "There shouldn't be differences and debates over vaccines," he added.
Additionally, research on nasal vaccines are also currently underway. Moreover, free vaccines will be provided for people above 18 years from June 21 June.
Besides assuring of ramping up the Covid vaccine supply in the country, Prime Minister Modi in his address warned the citizens to continue with their Covid appropriate behavior.
He warned that the battle against deadly Coronavirus is still on and hence, stressed on following Covid-19 protocols which includes wearing face masks and maintaining social distance.