Allow more pharma firms to make vaccines, Kejriwal urges Centre
NEW DELHI: The shortage in Delhi at present is not of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds or oxygen supply but of coronavirus vaccines, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday, urging the Centre to engage more pharmaceutical companies to ramp up production.
Kejriwal called for a national scheme to vaccinate the entire population of the country in the next few months and said that “unless every Indian is vaccinated, we cannot win the war against Covid-19”.
“Some states are struggling to widen the vaccine drive because of this shortage. Vaccine shortage is a major challenge now,” he said at a press briefing.
According to the chief minister, the two companies producing vaccines in India are capable of manufacturing 60-70 million doses a month, and at this rate, it would take over two years to vaccinate the country’s entire population. “Such a long span is likely to witness multiple waves, which would lead to more deaths. So, it is important to take up vaccine production on a war footing.”
In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Union government over the weekend said it expects 85 million doses to be manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, the makers of the two doses approved in India in January. Both these firms are expected to take their cumulative capacities to over 150 million by July.
Kejriwal separately wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called for ensuring the mass production of vaccines.
“The second wave of Covid is very fatal and the disease has reached the villages with many lives lost… There is a need to vaccinate all the citizens as soon as possible... Presently only two companies are manufacturing vaccines in India. Providing vaccines to the whole country through two companies only is not possible,” said Kejriwal in his letter to Modi.