Centre Claims There Has Been No Shortage of Covid-19 Vaccines

Centre denies charges of vaccine shortage…learn more…

Monday, 26th July 2021

The Central government has informed the Lok Sabha on Friday that there has been no shortage in the coronavirus vaccine doses in the country and that it has been supplying vaccines to states and union territories free of charge.

Minister of state for health Bharati Pravin Pawar stated in a written communication to the Lower House that the Centre ensures supply of vaccine doses to states and union territories at least 15 days in advance so that the concerned parties can adequately plan their individual drives to ensure acceleration and maximum coverage by being well aware of the availability of vaccines.

When questioned about whether the government is cognizant of the fact that multiple vaccination sites had to shut their doors due to unavailability of adequate vaccine doses to cater to the local population, Pawar mentioned, “There has been no shortage of vaccines and the Government of India has been providing free supply of vaccines to states and UTs for administration to prioritized beneficiaries as recommended by NEGVAC (National Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration against Covid-19.”

The Centre also claimed that until July 20 the estimated figures of eligible citizens in the country who have received at least their first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, is around 34.5 per cent of the total population. This was in direct contradiction to the Lok Sabha’s contention that, for a country which is the world’s leading vaccine manufacturer, only 10 per cent of Indians above the age of 18 have been administered with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Pawar cleared her position by quoting figures that state as of July 20,2021, a total of 32.64 crore first doses and 8.55 crore second doses have been administered to the population of the country in a total of 2.15 lakh Covid-19 vaccination centres across the length and breadth of the nation.

Ms Pawar said in her defense that apart from this, the government has been taking several steps to help elevate the country’s capacity to manufacture more and more vaccine doses.

This, she said, includes the aid they are providing to Bharat Biotech and three other public sector enterprises under ‘Mission Covid Suraksha’, which is India’s Covid-19 Vaccine Development Mission. Apart from this, Pawar said, they are assisting in technology transfer of Covaxin production, giving financial help to a domestic vaccine manufacturer for ‘at-risk’ manufacturing apart from getting regulatory procedures streamlined to get vaccines approved.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

Timesofindia Indiatimes