Union health minister orders 25% increase in Punjab vaccine supplies

CM SAID PUNJAB HAS RELATIVELY LESS ALLOCATION OF VACCINES AND LOW PER CAPITA VACCINATION AS COMPARED TO THE OTHER STATES

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH : On the request of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh for more vaccine supplies in view of the forthcoming festival season and 26 lakh people overdue for second Covishield shot, Union health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday ordered immediate increase in Punjab’s allocation by 25%.

The CM had sought supply of 55 lakh doses of Covid vaccine on priority for the state. Mandaviya assured the CM of all help and said supplies would ease from next month and he will fulfil the state’s requirement by October 31. He ordered the department to immediately increase Punjab’s allocation to meet its urgent requirement.

The CM said with sufficient supplies, the state government could arrange to vaccinate 5-7 lakh people daily. He pointed out that allocation of vaccine for Punjab for August stood at only 20,47,060 doses of Covishield, while around 26 lakh doses of this were required just for those whose second dose was overdue.

Citing the data, the CM said Punjab has relatively less allocation of vaccines (and hence very low per capita vaccination) as compared to the other states, and it needs to be increases to cover more population and catch up with the others.

As of August 7, Haryana’s per capita vaccination stands at 35.2, Delhi’s 39.4, J&K’s 43.7, Himachal’s 62 and Rajasthan’s 35.1, as against 27.1 in Punjab. The CM said that Punjab has till August 7 received only 1,00,73,821 doses, as against Haryana (1,27,94,804), Delhi (1,06,79,728), J&K (66,90,063), Himachal Pradesh (55,51,177) and Rajasthan (34,954,868).