Centre ready to pay vaccination cost in 1st phase: Maha health minister

Maharashtra public health ministerRajesh Tope on Thursday said the Centre has agreed to bear thecost of coronavirus vaccination in the first phase where someeight lakh health workers in the state will get the jab.

''I had a video conference with union public healthminister Dr Harsh Vardhan where I demanded that the Centrebear the cost of vaccination including operational expenses,''Tope said in a video message.

Vardhan assured that the Centre will foot the billfor the vaccination in the first phase but did not say anthingspecific about later phases, Tope said.

''We are going to set up vaccination centres at stateand civic-run hospitals. If we could set up 100 such centreswith each catering to 100 persons, we can cover the entirehealth staff in 70 to 80 days,'' the minister said.

Refusing to get into the controversy surrounding theBharat Biotech's Covaxin which has got approval before itdivulged third phase trial data, Tope said, ''As a state, wewill not comment on the issue.

''However, I have requested the Centre to allocate onecompany to one state as it will be helpful in terms ofcoordinating the supply and its distribution,'' he said.