Centre colluding with pvt hospitals for vaccine: AAP
Demanding the supply of vaccines for the youth, AAP MLA Atishi, on Thursday, accused the Central government for allegedly colluding with private hospitals.
The senior AAP leader, during a briefing on Thursday, said that the Central government is providing Covid vaccines to private hospitals—who are charging exorbitant prices from people in the 18-44 age group—instead of the Delhi government, which is providing the jabs for free, alleging a “collusion” between the two.
It has been 11 days since the city government stopped vaccination for the 18-44 age group due to unavailability of vaccines. The Centre has said it will provide fresh supply for the age group on June 10.
“This unavailability of vaccines for the youth of the city is a serious issue for Delhi as we have seen how the previous wave of Covid wreaked havoc for the youth,” she added.
India began vaccinating people in the 18-44 age bracket in the “liberalised and accelerated” Phase 3 of Covid-19 vaccination from May 1.
Under the third phase, the vaccine manufacturers would supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the Central government and would be free to supply the remaining 50 per cent doses to state governments and in the open market.
According to Ms Atishi, where almost “50 per cent” of the people above 45 years have been vaccinated in Delhi, the percentage in the 18-44 age bracket stands at “10-12 per cent” only due to shortage of vaccines.
The Delhi government, on Wednesday, received an additional 2.25 lakh Covishield doses, taking the total available vaccine stock in the city to 6,25,660, including 23,000 doses of Covaxin.
“The present stock of Covishield and Covaxi n vaccines available for the 45-plus age group would last for 29 days and 1-2 days respectively. Covaxin is only given to those who are due for their second dose,” she said.