Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Sunday said that seven lakh COVID-19 vaccine shots will be provided to Bihar in the first phase while one crore vaccine doses will be provided to the state in the second phase. Choubey added that the vaccination will be given first to health officials and then to frontline workers and the rest of the people.
The Minister on Sunday reviewed the preparation of supply and storage of the vaccines in the state and expressed his satisfaction. According to an India Today report, Bihar presently has 674 cold storage points across the state where 1.37 crore COVID-19 vaccines doses can be stored. Preparations are being made to create additional infrastructure to store another 1 crore doses, added the report.
Earlier, the BJP had in their poll manifesto promised to distribute free vaccines in Bihar. "As soon as a COVID-19 vaccine is available for production at a mass scale, every person in Bihar will get free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our poll manifesto," Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said. This poll promise had reportedly met with a lot of criticism from the Opposition.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 recovery rate in Bihar has improved to 97.30 per cent. The number of active cases is continuously declining. Currently, 5,241 patients are undergoing treatment at various hospitals.
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