Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the state governments will no longer have to spend on Covid-19 vaccines and the Centre will provide doses for the 18 to 45 age group. The decision means that all adults will now be eligible for free vaccines procured by the Centre.

“The Centre will procure 75% of the jabs manufactured by vaccne makers and provide them to states free of cost,” Modi said while addressing the nation. “From June 21, Centre will provide free vaccines for all citizens above the age of 18.”

So far, states were procuring 25% of the manufactured vaccines to inoculate those in the age group of 18-45. Private hospitals were buying another 25% of the total production, while the remaining 50% was earmarked for the Centre to vaccinate the priority groups. This system was put in place from May 1, when the third phase of vaccination kicked off. However, the Centre faced criticism from various entities, including the Supreme Court, state governments and Opposition leaders for the differential pricing of shots and shortages of vaccines, as manufacturers had announced different prices of vaccines for the Centre and states. They also did not provide states with a supply schedule in several cases.

The Centre’s decision on Monday, is in line with the demands made by multiple chief ministers to provide states with free vaccines. However, Modi said that those willing to pay for the vaccines may continue to do so, as private hospitals will still procure 25% of the jabs manufactured. In another significant decision, he also announced that the service charge on vaccines at private hospitals will now be capped at Rs 150.

On May 1, when the Centre announced the vaccination policy for those in the 18-45 age group, it had said that manufacturers will be free to provide 50% of the doses to “state governments and in the open market”. Later, in an affidavit filed to the Supreme Court, it had specified that of the 50% quota, 25% will be available for state governments and the remaining 25% for private hospitals. Following Monday’s decision, the Centre has specifically mentioned that 25% of the jabs will now be bought by private hospitals.

Modi also claimed that states themselves had asked for “de-centralisation” of the vaccine policy, within two weeks of implementation of the policy, realised that the centralised system was better.

“After giving it a lot of thought, we [Centre] changed the way vaccinations were done,” Modi said. “So, we gave 25% of the work to states. Now they have started to realise the difficulty the work involves.”

The prime minister hailed the vaccination process implemented by his central government noting that over 23 crore vaccine doses had been administered so far and that it was India’s achievement of to launch two made-in-India vaccines.

“Seven companies are currently producing different types of vaccines in the country and three more are in the trial process,” Modi said. He, however, added that the number of vaccine makers in the world were too few to met the global demand.

The prime minister also traced India’s experience with the coronavirus pandemic, especially the second wave.

“During the second wave in the months of April and May, the demand for medical oxygen had gone up exponentially. Various measures were implemented to meet the rising demands...even the security personnel were mobilised to fill the gaps.”

Further, he announced that the Centre will continue to provide free ration to 80 crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana, till Diwali this year.

India on Monday registered 1,00,636 Covid-19 new cases, pushing the infection tally in the country to 2,89,09,975 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. This is the lowest number of new cases in 61 days, reports said. With 2,427 deaths, the toll climbed to 3,49,186.

So far, more than 23.18 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, while over 4.51 crore beneficiaries have received both the doses, according to government data. The Centre has claimed that all adults will be vaccinated by the end of this year.