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Rajasthan, Centre at odds over supply of Covid-19 vaccine
Jaipur: The Union health ministry on Tuesday said Rajasthan has enough Covid-19 vaccines to continue its vaccination drive hours after the state’s health minister said it has vaccines only for two more days
Jaipur: The Union health ministry on Tuesday said Rajasthan has enough Covid-19 vaccines to continue its vaccination drive hours after the state’s health minister said it has vaccines only for two more days. On Monday, the state health department is believed to have written to the Union health ministry on the same.
Rajasthan, which is vaccinating 2.5 lakh people per day, currently is left with only two days of stock, said state health minister Raghu Sharma.
Sharma on Tuesday said that the Centre has given the state around 3 million vaccine doses till now and estimated that around 6.7 million people will need to be vaccinated in Phase 2.
“We have the vaccine for two days, if we don’t get vaccines, the drive will stop mid-way,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Union health ministry clarified that there is no shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in Rajasthan
“There have been some news reports suggesting impending shortage of Covid-19 vaccine doses in Rajasthan. The factual position is that there is no shortage of Covid-19 vaccine with the state at present. Rajasthan has been supplied 3.761 million doses and has consumed only 2.428 million doses till yesterday night,” the ministry said in an official release.
Sharma said that the state originally received 3 million doses, of which it has used around 2.4 million with around a lakh being wasted. The state has around 5 lakh doses, enough for two more days, he added.He admitted that the state received 85,000 more doses on Tuesday and expects to receive around 670000 doses on Wednesday (that will take the number up to the 3.761 million in the Union ministry’s statement).
To be sure, all vaccine sourcing is being managed by the Centre, and doses are sent in tranches to the states.
Sharma pointed out that frontline and health care workers vaccinated in Phase 1 will now need second doses and recommended that the “Centre provide the state with buffer stock. We have cold chains and the required infrastructure.”
He added that the state is “performing well in vaccination but need vaccines to continue with the momentum”.
“I have spoken union minister Harsh Vardhan and apprised him of the situation. He has assured me that he will look into it,” said the health minister.
The state has requested the Centre for the supply of 6 million additional Covid-19 vaccines. The Union health ministry added in its statement that it is closely monitoring the Covid-19 vaccine supply of all states and union territories (UTs).
The central government has been providing vaccine doses to all the states and UTs as per their requirement and consumption pattern, the ministry added.
