On Thursday, October 21, India achieved a milestone of administrating 100-crore COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The very next day, on October 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on this victory and said, India has administered 100 crore doses to its citizens for free, without taking any money.
It was indeed India’s historic win against the virus. However, PM Modi’s claim of India administrating 100-crore doses to its citizens for free is factually incorrect.
India rolled out its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16th January 2021. In the initial phase of the drive, healthcare workers and front liners were vaccinated.
In its second phase, people above 45 years of age with pre-conditions were immunised against the virus.
The Central government first decided to charge for vaccinating citizens belonging to the age group 18-44. However, later they declared that no money would be charged for vaccination.
It is to be noted that along with the government, private players were also involved in the vaccination drive. As per the directives of the Central government, private hospitals were allowed to procure 25% of the vaccines.
There were many people in India, who decided to get vaccinated at private hospitals. Currently, there are many more, who are opting out of getting their jabs at government centres.
In India, the price for one dose of Covishield stood ₹780, Covaxin at ₹1,410, and Sputnik V was capped at ₹1,145. The CoWin portal accepted entries of all beneficiaries, the ones who paid and the ones who got their jabs for free at government centres.
At the end of the day, a cumulative count of the total number of doses administered was given by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which included both, paid and free vaccinations.
For example, if 1000 doses were administered in Nagpur city in a day, some doses among those 1000 were paid and some were free. However, the authorities gave a cumulative count of 1000 doses without specifying how many were paid and how many were free.
In simpler words, among those 100-crore jabs, a vast majority of the doses were administered for free, but, a heavy number of the doses were paid for.
This is why PM Modi’s claim of India administrating 100-crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine for free is factually incorrect as many beneficiaries paid for their doses.
The number 100-crore shown on the CoWin portal, included both, free as well as paid jabs. There is no clarification from the Central government on how many doses from that 100-crore were given for free and how many were paid.