Advertisement

Updated July 5th, 2021 at 19:29 IST

Rajasthan minister seeks details of vaccine production, claims 'irregularity' in supply

Raghu Sharma, who is heading the vaccination drive in the state, accused the union health ministry of not providing enough vaccines to the state

Reported by: Aakansha Tandon
Rajasthan
vaccine | Image:self
Advertisement

Amid reports of shortage of COVID vaccines in Rajasthan and halting of the vaccination drive on July 5 in the state's several districts, Rajasthan’s Health minister Raghu Sharma asked the Centre to provide details of vaccines being produced in the country. 

Raghu Sharma, who is heading the vaccination drive in the state, accused the union health ministry of not providing enough vaccines to the state. He also sought details of the production capacity of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing companies in India and, how much is being exported and how much is being kept for domestic use. In a statement to ANI, he said, “ It would've been better had Centre provided data on production capacity of vaccine manufacturing companies, how much they're exporting, how much was there for our own country. There is irregularity in vaccine supply.”


The statement comes after the state suffered the shortage of vaccines, owing to the halt of the ongoing inoculation drive for 18 and above in several districts, including Jaipur.  

State needs 75 lakh vaccines for second dose, Centre's quota is 65 lakh

Earlier, Raghu Sharma had written to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to increase the state’s dose allocation from 65 lakh to 1.5 crore, as in July state has to provide a second dose to around 75 lakh people ( 40%) of the total 5.16 crore beneficiaries eligible for vaccination. Vaccine unavailability has become a cause of concern for the state and, as per the health minister, it would be difficult to scale up vaccines for second doses in the state, if the centre did not increase their quota. 

During the vaccination crisis in the state, Raghu Sharma had approached the health ministry earlier on July 2 as well. In another letter, he had written to the health ministry, asking them to provide state governments with vaccines from the quota of private hospitals. He expressed that the state government will provide vaccines to private hospitals at its level, as fewer people prefer paid vaccination and the government is inoculating for free.  

This is not the first time vaccination had to be halted in Rajasthan, the state ran out of stock several times before. Just last month, the state reported a similar situation on June,30.  However, the state has inoculated around 2.57 crore people, with 2.14 crore people administered first dose and 43, 67,709 people fully vaccinated, as per the data provided by the health ministry on July 5 (7 am). On the other hand, around 35.28 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the ongoing nationwide vaccination drive. 

The coronavirus figures in the state are dipping as the second wave fades out, state reported 71 new cases on Sunday, taking the total infection tally to 9,52,734. Around 8,398 people have succumbed to the deadly disease and 9,42,616 have recovered till now. The state has around 1180 active cases as reported by ministry of health.
 
 

Advertisement

Published July 5th, 2021 at 19:29 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo