Bengaluru: Vaccinate people free of cost, says H D Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: The government should vaccinate people in the State free of cost as announced by some other States when the inoculation for everyone aged above 18 years commences nationwide from May 1, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said here on Saturday.

"As the government has decided to vaccinate everyone above 18 years, I appeal (to the State government) to inoculate 6.5 crore people of the state, who are in financial distress, free of cost," Kumaraswamy tweeted.

He pointed out that Jharkhand, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Sikkim have already announced free vaccination and the same should be done in Karnataka.

He said that in the current scenario,people will not get vaccinated if they are charged for it and so the government should announce that the shots would be administered free of cost to all those aged above 18 years, from May 1

"Already Rs 400 crore has been earmarked to purchase one crore doses of vaccine. It will not be a burden to reserve Rs 2,000 crore for vaccines for a government, which has presented a budget of Rs 2.5 lakh crore," Kumaraswamy said.

The JD(S) leader claimed that he had given the advice on free vaccination one-and-half months ago to the government "It will be a commendable decision to vaccinate everyone free of cost the way Pulse Polio vaccine was given," Kumaraswamy said.

Meanwhile, the former CM said he had recovered from coronavirus and returned home.

"Due to your love, affection and prayers, I came home from the hospital today, recovering from a corona infection. My salute to the love," the JD(S) second-in-command tweeted.

He added that the doctors have advised him not to meet anyone for the next two weeks and hence asked the people to cooperate.

Kumaraswamy tested positive for COVID-19 on April 17 and was admitted to a private hospital.

Prior to him, his parents - former Prime Minister D Deve Gowda and mother Chennamma - were infected with the virus and were hospitalised.