French | Hindi

India is going through a pandemic crisis of alarming proportions and the country is recording over 3 lakh covid positive cases almost on a Daily Basis. The collapse of the healthcare system because of the pandemic has been for the world to see. 

Amidst this huge crisis, the only ray of hope for the Indians is the vaccination of everyone in the country to tide over this second tsunami like wave of the pandemic. The central government of India has allowed everyone above the age of 18 to get vaccinated from 1st May, but this step has come as too little too late and even now there is a catch to it that the citizens between the age group of 18-44 will have to pay for their own vaccines. What complicates this situation more is that the centre has said that citizens in the age bracket of 18-44 years would be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccination at any private vaccination centre, and would need to be registered on the CoWIN portal when they become eligible for the vaccine starting May 1.

In a letter to States on April 23, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said: “Citizens in the age group of 18 years to 44 years shall be eligible to receive vaccination, on payment, from any of the private CVCs (Covid Vaccination Centres).”

If those between age of 18-44 will have to get vaccinated in private centres only unless the state government makes provision for them to get vaccinated in state govt approved public facilities then the price which those between 18-44 will have to pay for the vaccine would be enormous and two vaccine manufacturers in India have already fixed the price at which they will sell the vaccines to private hospitals. Covishield will be sold to private hospitals at Rs 600 per dose while CoVaxin will cost Rs 1200 per dose for private hospitals. If the private hospitals will procure the vaccines at these high prices it is clear they will sell it at high prices too to those between 18-44. While many state governments have already announced that they will provide the vaccines to their residents for free, the citizens of India can not be discriminated based on the state they live in.

I strongly urge to the Government of India to remove all caps and prices on vaccines and make one single rule, that is free vaccination for all in India irrespective of the age and profession of the person. If we want to tide over this pandemic, there is no other way than free vaccination for all in India. I request you to sign my petition and raise your voice for free vaccination for all. 

Regards,
Rahul Kapoor