Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday announced that the Covid-19 vaccine will be provided free of cost to healthcare workers throughout the country.
"In 1st phase of #COVID19Vaccination free #vaccine shall be provided across the nation to most prioritised beneficiaries that incl 1 crore healthcare & 2 crore frontline workers
Details of how further 27 cr priority beneficiaries are to be vaccinated until July are being finalised," the minister tweeted.
A dry run for Covid-19 vaccination will be conducted by all state and Union Territory administrations on Saturday. The activity is likely to be conducted in all state capitals in at least three session sites.
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While reviewing preparations for the exercise, the minister also appealed to everyone to not believe in rumours and emphasised that the Covid-19 vaccine was safe.
"I want to appeal to people to not believe in any rumours. There should be no rumours about the vaccine's safety...Everything has been checked in detail. Initially when the polio vaccine was rolled out, even then rumours had been floated. But once it went on the floor, all people were assured about its safety. Our prime criteria in the vaccine trial is the safety and efficacy and nothing will be compromised," Vardhan told reporters.
"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 #COVID19vaccine We will not compromise on any protocol before approving a vaccine," Harsh Vardhan tweeted.
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(With PTI inputs)
