Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday has clarified that everybody in the country will be vaccinated against the Covid-19 disease even as states reported a shortage of the jabs.
Speaking in Bangaluru, Sitharaman said, “Every state gets allocation as per the density of the population/number of the vulnerable population. Centre supplies vaccines well in advance to the states,” news agency ANI quoted her as saying, while adding, “All states will be taken care of.”
Her comments come as the Odisha government halted the vaccination drive in 16 districts due to a “shortage” of Covishield doses. However, Assam yesterday said it could vaccinate only 16.63 lakh people in the last 10 days. Almost 45% less than the target set by state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, due to a massive shortage of Covid-19 vaccines. An official report stated that the figure is way below the ambitious 30-lakh target set during Sarma’s meeting with all the stakeholders of the districts on June 19.
In Maharashtra, the administration suspended the vaccination drive across 281 civic-run centres and 20 government-run centres in Mumbai due to a shortage of stocks.
Several other states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, etc have also said that they are facing a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines. The Union health ministry also said, more than 1.24 crore vaccine doses are available with the states and Union territories. It also said that over 94,66,400 doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days.
It also informed that more than 32.92 crore vaccine doses were provided to states and UTs so far through the government of India (free of cost channel) and direct state procurement category. Of this, the total consumption, including wastage is 31,67,50,891 doses, the ministry also informed.
In the release, the Centre also said it is committed to accelerating the pace and working to expand the scope of vaccination drive throughout the country.
Meanwhile, India has given around 33.57 crore vaccine doses so far under the ongoing nationwide vaccination drive.
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