Vaccination drive will need to be stopped due to insufficient stock: Rajasthan CM

Rajasthan has now joined Maharashtra to flag concerns around shortage of vaccines in the state.

State Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said that the vaccination drive at many centers will need to be halted on Saturday due to insufficient stock of anti-Covid shots.

He also said that the Centre's claim of no shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in the country is wrong and demanded that a status report on availability of doses be made public.

"Rajasthan leads among all states in vaccination of people above 60 years of age. Rajasthan has received 1,07,40,860 Covid-19 vaccine doses from the central government till 6 April. Of these, 2,15,180 vaccines have been made available to the army; 91,55,370 dosages have been used till 8 April. About 4,34,888 dosages were wasted, which is less than half of the 10% limit allowed by the central government,” Gehlot said in a statement.

The chief minister said that after Friday, there are only about five lakh vaccine doses left in the state which are insufficient for further vaccination.

“The central government has proposed the next consignment of 3.83 lakh doses of vaccine on 12 April. Due to this, vaccination work will have to be stopped in many districts in Rajasthan tomorrow,” Gehlot said.

Statements made by Union Ministers Amit Shah and Ravi Shankar Prasad that there is no shortage of vaccines in the country is factually wrong, he added.

Gehlot said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for celebrating 'Teeka Utsav' from 11 to 14 April. But how will this happen with a shortage of vaccines in many states.

"In such a way, how can the 'Teeka Utsav' be celebrated?" Gehlot asked.

He said the central government should clarify the insufficiency to the public.

"No politics is being done in the work of vaccination, but it is clear from the facts that there is a shortage of vaccines in many states. The central government should clarify the status of vaccine doses in public," the chief minister said.

Gehlot said that Rajasthan has been a pioneer in coronavirus management and vaccination since the beginning.

Harsh Vardhan's statement

Union health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday maintained that there is no shortage of shots in India.

“All the claims of states are baseless and centre is supplying vaccines to all states equitably irrespective of the ruling party. The central government is working very hard in controlling the pandemic and speeding up the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination program and states should support it instead of playing politics," Harsh Vardhan told Mint.

“Whichever states are reporting to us about shortage we are supplying the adequate vaccines without delay," he said.