Free vaccination to all aged above 18: Bihar government

PATNA: The Bihar government on Wednesday announced that it will provide free COVID vaccination to all aged above 18, extending the facility provided to citizens of the state of other categories so far. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar informed this through a tweet message.

Kumar said that the state government will bear the cost of administering jabs to all citizens of the state above 18 years of age starting from May 1.

rom the beginning the state government has been providing vaccine to its natives of all the listed categories above 45 years of age without any payment, in the government as well as in the designated private hospitals across the state.

Free vaccination was announced by the NDA in the Bihar assembly elections in November-December last year and it is being fulfiled by the Nitish Kumar ministry. Free vaccination announcement even for population above 18 years of age drew praise even from the main opposition RJD.

Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav, however, tried to score political point over the issue, claiming the decision was due to the opposition demand. “Would like to know the plan how around 10 crore population of Bihar will be inoculated? hope this doesn’t turn out an empty announcement like the one made to provide jobs to 19 lakh people,” Tejashwi said in a statement attaching Kumar’s tweet message.