Tripura announces free Covid-19 vaccine shots for 18-44 age group

Over twenty states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and others, already announced free vaccinations from May 1 for those in the 18-44 age group.

Joining the growing list of states offering free Covid vaccine shots, Tripura on Wednesday said it would provide free doses to everyone below the age of 45.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, Sanjay Mishra, OSD to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, said that the decision was taken at a meeting headed by the Chief Minister earlier in April. CM Deb decided to allocate Rs 134 crore for COVID care from the state budget to procure vaccine doses, he said.

Over twenty states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and others, already announced free vaccinations from May 1 for those in the 18-44 age group. However, most states are struggling to vaccinate those 18 and above due to vaccine shortages. And Tripura is yet to begin vaccinating this age group.

In a video message earlier in April, the Chief Minister had said, “We have sanctioned Rs 134 crores from our state budget to buy Covid-19 vaccines. We also need to be aware that ten big states including Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and West Bengal have been identified for distribution of vaccines first due to significantly more Covid-19 cases”.

He had also said vaccination would be done in a phased manner, keeping sufficient doses in stock.

Meanwhile, eleven people died of Covid on Tuesday – the highest number of deaths in a single day so far in recent months. There are currently 2,917 Covid patients being treated in different hospitals and health centers across Tripura.

While oxygen shortage has been plugged, partially due to smooth transportation of oxygen cylinders from outside the state and a functional unit at Bodhjungnagar industrial estate, efforts are on to set up another medical grade oxygen plant in the Indira Gandhi Memorial (IGM) Hospital here.

With rising coronavirus cases across the country, the state has upped its testing apparatus as well with 1,90,147 tests being conducted per million people.

Source: Read Full Article