Attempt To Take Credit For Free Vaccine Not Good: Maha Congress
Mumbai: Maharashtra Revenue Minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Monday said that the decision on free COVID-19 vaccines should be announced by the Chief Minister and an attempt by others to take credit for it was “not good”.
His statement comes after Maharashtra’s Minority Affairs Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik said that the state government would issue a global tender to provide affordable and quality COVID 19 vaccine free of cost to citizens below 45 years of age.
The NCP shares power in the state with the Shiv Sena and the Congress.
Without naming the NCP, Thorat said that there was a discussion on providing the free vaccine and that it was not right to make an announcement immediately to get the credit for it.
“This is not good,” the Congress leader told reporters.
Notably, the state’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar recently said that global tenders would be called to buy affordable and quality vaccines for citizens in the state.
Thorat said the Congress’ stance on the vaccination process was clear.
He said, “Our party chief Sonia Gandhi said that vaccines should be made available for free. But, the announcement should be made by the Chief Minister.”
When the vaccination campaign opens to people over the age of 18 on May 1, there will be increased crowding at the vaccine centres.
“The crowd can lead to chaos, leading to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. I have spoken to the chief secretary and told him that a policy should be made. A decision will be taken in two days.” he said.
The minister said it was the Centre’s responsibility to make available the vaccine doses to all.
“There were initial hiccups when the vaccination drive was opened for those aged above 45. Hence, a policy should first be framed for (opening the inoculation process for) those above 18 years,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Sunday logged 832 COVID related fatalities, which is the highest-ever single-day spike since the pandemic started. With today’s count, the death toll in the state has reached 64,760.
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