Govt will administer Covid vaccine free of cost to people: Puducherry CM

COVID-19 vaccine will be made

available to all people free of cost in the Union Territory,and the vaccination drive would be held in three phases, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said on Tuesday.

The full expenditure would be borne by the administration, he told reporters here.

In the first round, 14,000 health workers would be inoculated.

In the second phase, field staff engaged in carrying out Covid control programme would be vaccinated and it would cover those from police, revenue and local administration departments.

In the third, those above 50 and also those having complaints of diabetes, hypertension and cancer would be vaccinated.

The CM said he has appealed to the Prime Minister that the vaccine vials for Mahe and Yanam be distributed from neighbouring Kozhikode in Kerala (for Mahe) and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh (for Yanam).

Transporting the vaccines from Puducherry, as soon as it made available by the Centre, to these distant pockets would be practically impossible, particularly in maintaining them in cold storage,he said.

Narayanasamy said he had requested prime minister Narendra Modi at the video conference with Chief Ministers on Monday that political leaders, ministers and those in public life also be brought under the first phase for inoculation as it would set an example and give people the confidence in the vaccines.

Already two rounds of dry runs were conducted to ensure full logistics and preparedness of the Health department to implement vaccination once the vials were available from the Centre, he added.

Modi has said India will launch its COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16.