State-Centre come Face to face on Vaccination Issue
New Delhi, 8/4: The Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, has taken on the governments of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, who are complaining of vaccine deficiency. At the same time, he also pulled out the Punjab and Delhi government, which failed to get the vaccination done. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, while replying to the allegations of the Government of Maharashtra, said that there is no shortage of vaccine anywhere in the country. The Maharashtra government is repeating its mistakes time and again.
The Union Health Minister said that the situation in Maharashtra deteriorated due to repeated mistakes. Now the government there is blaming us for hiding its failures. He said that all the states which are talking about vaccine deficiency are working to scare people politically.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan also raised the Health Minister of Chhattisgarh in the dock. He said that the Chhattisgarh government had refused to introduce Covaxin in his state. He was constantly making statements whose intention is to spread misinformation and nervousness about vaccination. This has weakened the ongoing fight against Corona.
The Health Minister said that only 86% of the health workers were given the first dose of corona vaccine by the Maharashtra government. 72% of the health workers were vaccinated in Delhi and only 64% in Punjab. On the other hand, more than 90% of the health workers have been vaccinated in 10 other states and union territories. Similarly, these three governments have failed in applying vaccines to the front-line workers. So far only 73% in Maharashtra, 71% in Delhi, and 65% in Punjab were given the first dose of vaccine. This figure is less than the national average.
The Union Health Ministry has written to the Government of Punjab, Maharashtra, and Delhi to increase vaccination. It has been told in the letter that vaccine has been installed in these three states less than the national average. In the letter written to the Maharashtra government, it has been said that 1 crore 6 lakh 19 thousand 190 vaccine doses were sent by the central government to the state. Out of these, only 90 lakh 53 thousand 523 vaccines have been used. The rest of the vaccine dose is still left. In this case, the charge of lack of vaccine is absolutely wrong.
