No shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, says Harsh Vardhan as Maharashtra, Andhra send SOS
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has clarified that there is no shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in India. The states are being supplied with the vaccine doses as per their requirement, the health minister told Aaj Tak.
Hours after Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh revealed that they have sent an SOS alert to the Centre over Covid-19 vaccine scarcity, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan clarified that there was no dearth of vaccine stock in the country.
Speaking to Aaj Tak, the Union health minister said that the states have been told that they will get the vaccines as per their requirement. "The Centre will not allow any state to face vaccine scarcity," he said.
Harsh Vardhan's statement came hours after Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told media that the state may run out of Covid-19 vaccine in three days.
"We have 14 lakh vaccine doses that will last us only for three days. After that, vaccination may come to a standstill. We need a stock of 40 lakh vaccine doses per week," Rajesh Tope said. The state minister also said that he had raised this concern during his meeting with Union Health Minster Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday.
Andhra Pradesh has also said that it may run out of vaccine doses by Thursday.
Reacting to Rajesh Tope's statement, Harsh Vardhan said that the state minister's concerns were addressed during the meeting on Tuesday.
"No state is facing vaccine scarcity and neither we will allow them to face it. All states are being supplied with Covid-19 vaccine as per their requirements," Harsh Vardhan said.
"This was communicated to all states at the beginning of the meetig on Tuesday. I had assured them that there would be no shortage of vaccines and the supply will continue as per requirement," the Union health minister said.
As per Maharashtra government, the state currently has a stock of only 14 lakh vaccines that will last only for three days. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh currently only has 3.7 lakh vaccine doses. The state government expects that it will be exhausted by Thursday.
Covid-19 surge in India
The number of new coronavirus cases in India hit a record daily high since the outbreak of the pandemic with over 1.15 lakh new infections being reported in a span of 24 hours, pushing the nationwide Covid-19 tally to 1,28,01,785, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The single-day rise in coronavirus cases breached the 1-lakh mark for the second time in three days.
A total of 1,66,177 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 56,330 from Maharashtra, 12,804 from Tamil Nadu, 12,696 from Karnataka, 11,113 from Delhi, 10,355 from West Bengal, 8,924 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,251 from Andhra Pradesh and 7,216 from Punjab.
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