Job of states to provide vaccine with meticulous planning, says Harsh Vardhan as states stare at stock crisis
Amid the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination controversies in the country, there have been debates happening between various state governments against the Centre.
FollowThe Centre on Wednesday continued with its dismissive stance on vaccine shortage in the country amid the raging coronavirus crisis even as states continue to flag the depleted or near-depleted stocks of drugs.
Faced with two of its worst possible crisis during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic—record spikes in daily cases of Covid-19 and what several states have claimed a shortage of vaccine against the viral disease, India is grappling to bring the surge under control.
Stating that the states are tasked with efficient distribution, the Union health minister said that the government has provided the states with vaccines.
He went on to suggest that "It is the job of states to provide vaccine doses at the vaccination centres in a time bound manner with meticulous planning."
"There is no shortage of vaccines and the government of India gives vaccines to every state. It is the job of states to provide vaccine doses at the vaccination centres in a time-bound manner with meticulous planning," Harsh Vardhan said, reported news agency ANI.
In the last few days, several states have reached out to the Centre for assistance as many claimed that their stocks will not last for long.
The list of states which have flagged the shortage and sought re-stocking from the Centre includes Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Assam.
While Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand complained that they are facing a shortage of vaccines last week, reports emerged from several other states that vaccine centres were shutting early or turning people away due to supplies running out.
On the other hand, the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 11 crore. Cumulatively, 11,11,79,578 vaccine doses have been administered through 16,53,488 sessions, according to the provisional report till 7 am.
