'Do not make India victim of BJP system': Rahul Gandhi demands free COVID vaccine for citizens

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday demanded the central government of providing free vaccination for all citizens against COVID-19, saying "do not make India the victim of the BJP system". "Enough of discussion. Countrymen should get the vaccine free. Do not make India the victim of the BJP system," Gandhi said in a tweet.

Many states, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal and others, have decided to provide free vaccines to the people in their respective states. The Centre on April 19 had announced a ''liberalised'' policy, making all above 18 years of age eligible to get vaccinated from May 1. It has also allowed state governments and private hospitals to purchase vaccines from manufacturers.

As per the central government, manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines will be free to supply 50 per cent doses to state governments and in the open market, for which they will have to make an advance declaration of the price before May 1. A total of 3,52,991 new COVID-19 cases, 2,812 related deaths and 2,19,272 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total active cases to 28,13,658, as per the health ministry update on Monday morning.