‘Centre should focus on ensuring coronavirus vaccines to states’
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said the Centre should focus on ensuring the supply of enough Covid vaccines to all the states, rather than preventing them from sharing information regarding their vaccine stocks. The Delhi government shares information regarding its vaccine stocks and the doses administered through a vaccination bulletin every day.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Atishi, who presents the vaccination bulletin, said the people of the city have the right to know about the vaccine stocks and availability. The Centre has written to the states and Union territories, advising them not to share the data of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system on vaccine stocks and the temperature of vaccine storage at public forums, saying it is ‘sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement’.
Reacting to it, Mr Sisodia tweeted: 'Am amazed at the order of Central Govt that prevents states from sharing information regarding vaccine stocks! The Central Govt needs to focus on ensuring an adequate supply of vaccine to all, rather
than hiding the true position of vaccine availability, from the public.' Atishi said Delhi did not have vaccines for the 18-44 age group for 16 days. People faced problems and wanted to know whether vaccines were available, she said.
'The Centre is asking the states not to share information on the vaccine stocks. We appeal to it to focus on making enough vaccines available to the states rather than hiding information,' the Kalkaji MLA said.
If there are no vaccines, people will eventually get to know about it, she added. The Centre, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has rolled out the eVIN system under UIP, which is used to track the vaccine stock status and the temperature at all levels of vaccine storage, from national to the sub-district level. In a letter to the states and Union territories, the health ministry said it is overwhelming to see that all the states are using the system to update the stock and transactions of Covid vaccines on a daily basis.