Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday (May 20) urged the people of the state to turn vaccination drive into a ‘mass movement’ through donations.
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, CM Sarma said, “I would like to appeal everyone to celebrate their birthday in a special way. People can pay for the vaccination of someone on their birthday and save a life from COVID-19.”
“If we take responsibility to vaccinate one or two persons at our own expense it will be great work we will do for our society,” he said.
CM Sarma’s appeal is for sponsoring vaccines for people in the age group of 18-44, which is the responsibility of the state governments, while vaccinating those above 45 years is the responsibility of the central government.
The Chief Minister said that two doses of Covaxin costs Rs 800, while two doses of Covishield vaccine is priced at Rs 600. Many people have the ability to donate such an amount and feel glad by serving a needy person.
“For vaccinating the 1.2 crore people in the age group 18-44 years, we would need around Rs 600 to 800 crore. It is not that the state government cannot provide the amount for the vaccination but I want to offer people the chance and joy of saving a life by sponsoring vaccination,” he said.
“The state government at any case will buy the vaccine but I still appeal to the people to contribute to the cause by donating,” he said.
Rs 119 crore that was collected during the first wave of the pandemic in the Assam Arogya Nidhi will be used to buy vaccines. CM Sarma also handed over a cheque of Rs 50 crore from the Chief minister’s relief fund to Assam Arogya Nidhi on Thursday.
CM Sarma further said that Reliance Industries has contributed Rs 15 crore, teachers are contributing their one-day salary, while the MLAs are also donating to strengthen the fight against the pandemic.
CM @himantabiswa presented a cheque of Rs 50 crore from CMRF to Health Minister @keshab_mahanta as contribution towards #AssamArogyaNidhi. The CM urged the people to turn vaccination drive into a 'mass movement' through donations. 2/4 pic.twitter.com/aC7keiahe7
— Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) May 20, 2021
“Reliance Industries has 39 petrol pumps in Assam and it has decided to provide 50-litre of fuel from each pump per day to the vehicles used in Covid management work,” Sarma said.
Admitting that there is a shortage of vaccines across the country, Sarma said that in Assam, 35 lakh vaccines have been administered so far. “Presently, we are administrating around 50,000 vaccines per day,” he said.
But till July, vaccine will be available easily because the companies have started producing in huge quantity to meet up the demand, he said.
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