Centre should give more vaccines to states: Gehlot
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said the Union health ministry “should leave statistics and ensure more vaccines are available to the states”.
In a series of tweets, Gehlot suggested giving priority to the production of coronavirus immunization vaccines in the country. “In a country of 130 crore (1,300 million) population, if vaccines are not provided soon and the third wave of corona starts affecting children, then the situation of lack of oxygen and medicines will be worse than the second wave and we will not be able to save children,” he said.
“The Union Health Ministry should leave statistics and ensure more vaccines are available to the states. If the third wave affects children, the country will never forgive,” Gehlot tweeted.
The chief minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan should put vaccine production on top priority and, if necessary, other companies should also be allowed and encouraged to produce vaccines by amending the laws. India is known globally in vaccine production, he said.
Deputy leader of the Opposition, Rajendra Rathore said instead of throwing stones at the centre over vaccination, it would have been better if the chief minister had expressed concern over the wastage of 115,000 vaccine doses and vaccine theft due to poor management in Rajasthan.
Meanwhile, the state government has approached Indian embassies abroad to check the credentials of firms participating in global tenders.
To speed up the vaccination, the state called for global tenders to procure 10 million vaccine doses, which is under process. Of the 80 million people in the state, only 10.28 million have been administered with the first dose of vaccination and 3,170,000 with the second. A senior official on condition of anonymity said that around nine vaccine dealers, including that of Covishield and Sputnik V, have participated in the global tender. The departments are verifying their documents and for the same the embassies have also been asked to check their credentials. The inoculation programme in Rajasthan is moving at a snail’s pace due to the shortage of Covid-19 vaccines. According to the health department data, only 1,750 vaccine doses have been left for the 18-45 age group at state level.
He said the Serum Institute of India is overburdened with orders and similar seems to be the situation with Bharat Biotech. The state has ordered 284,000 doses to Bharat Biotech around 15 days back, but still waiting for the delivery.
In Rajasthan, more than 5.3 million people in the 60 plus age group have been vaccinated, of which only 1.6 million have received the second dose. Similar is the situation in 45-60 age category – more than 5.1 million people have been given the first dose and 757,000 the second dose. Over 1.4 million people in the 18-45 age group have been vaccinated. JAIPUR: