Jharkhand CM writes to PM seeking free Covid vaccine for 18-44 age group

Ranchi: Chief Minister Hemant Soren has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking free COVID jabs for the 18-44 age group, saying the state was unable to incur nearly Rs 1,100 crore on it due to stressed resources. In the letter sent on Monday, Soren said the state was battling a deadly second wave of COVID-19 with its limited resources.

"The financial burden on the state for vaccination of the age cohort of 18-44 years is likely to be more than Rs 1,100 crore considering 1.57 crore eligible beneficiaries.

"With vaccine being available for age cohort of 12-18 years and below, the mentioned financial burden will further increase by around Rs 1,000 crore. It will be extremely difficult to spare as much resources from the resource pool of the state which is already stressed during Covid times," the letter mentioned. He said the abysmal supply of vaccine as compared to the state's requirement is the foremost impediment to the ongoing vaccination drive.

Terming the mandate for states to procure medicines against cooperative federalism, Soren said, "This is probably for the first instance in the history of independent India that the states have been mandated to procure vaccines on their own."

Such a mandate, under the challenging and unprecedented circumstances where the entire nation is struggling for over a year, stands against the principle of cooperative federalism, he said.

Soren said with the emergence of the second wave of COVID-19 in country, the state experienced an unexpected outbreak of the pandemic and existing medical infrastructure of the state was put under unparalleled strain.