NEA urges PM to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to MSME workers

Noida, Jan 8 (KNN) Industry body Noida Entrepreneurs’ Association (NEA) has urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide COVID-19 vaccine to labourers working in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) free of cost.

Quoting several media reports in the media, the city-based NEA, in a letter to the prime minister, expressed his worries that the vaccine may cost anything between Rs 200 and Rs 1,000.

''The MSME sector employs lakhs of labourers who are aged below 50 years and earn around Rs 15,000 a month. These labourers make an important contribution for the country, work on daily wages and work day and night to manage a living for themselves and their families,” Malhan said.

He further said that an amount of Rs 1,000 for the vaccine will be a big sum for them to bear.

“It is requested to you that people working in registered companies in the MSME sector and those dependent on them should be given a priority in vaccination,” he urged the prime minister.

They could be given the vaccination by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) or any other institution free of cost, Malhan added.

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) January 3 formally approved Serum Institute's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for restricted use in India.