"Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that free vaccines would be provided to all people. It is estimated that more than 500 rupees ($6.77) will be spent to vaccinate each person," Sarangi said at a campaign rally in the city of Balasor, located in the Indian state of Odisha.
The governments of the states of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Puducherry have already announced free vaccinations for their residents.
Rajesh Bhushan, the secretary at the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said last week that the country was considering the possibility of inoculating about 30 million people in the first stage of the vaccination, mainly doctors working with COVID-19 patients.
India is still testing three national COVID-19 vaccines. The Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila companies are going through the second phase of testing their vaccines. India is the second country in terms of the population infected by COVID-19.
The overall number of infected Indian citizens has reached 7.9 million, and the disease has claimed the lives of more than 119,000 people.