Even as the Union Government is all prepared to start Covid vaccine drive for the age group of 18 to 44 years, Congress-ruled states are non-committal to become part of this campaign-scheduled to start from May 1.
Congress-ruled states accused the BJP-led Union Government at the Centre of "hijacking vaccine stocks from manufactures" and shown their inability to become part of the next drive.
Health Ministers of Congress-ruled states namely Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Punjab held a virtual joint press conference along with the health minister of Jharkhand, where Congress is running a coalition with Jharkhand Mukti Morch (JMM).
During the press conference, health ministers of these states accused the Union Government of taking away all stocks and it was not possible for them to vaccinate all adults due to the non-availability of vaccine.
Balbir Singh Sidhu, Punjab Health Minister in the joint press conference said that Covishield supplies were not available till May 15 because the manufacturing company has already booked all doses.
T S Singh Deo, Health Minister of another Congress-ruled state Chhattisgarh, expressed his inability to start vaccine drive for all adults due to the non-availability of vaccines.
Echoing in a similar tone, Rajasthan Health Minister, Raghu Sharma said that the state's participation in the next campaign was not possible because the vaccine was not available till May 15.
"How do we vaccinate adults of 18-45 years as Serum Institute has said they will not be able to provide vaccine till May 15," Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said.
Punjab urges Centre to increase liquid oxygen quota
Amid a shortage of oxygen in the country, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday informed that he has requested Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to increase the state's quota for Liquid Oxygen to 250 MT daily to curb the COVID-19 cases in the state.
He wrote to the Minister and sought his urgent intervention into the matter. "Wrote to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan yesterday, requesting him to increase Punjab's Liquid Oxygen quota to 250 MT daily due to continuous surge of coronavirus cases along with the inflow of patients from other states. Seek your urgent personal intervention in this regard,", Capt Amrinder Singh tweeted.
Wrote to Union Health Minister @drharshvardhan ji yesterday, requesting him to increase Punjab’s Liquid Oxygen quota to 250 MT daily due to continuous surge of #Covid19 cases along with inflow of patients from other States. Seek your urgent personal intervention in this regard.
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) April 25, 2021
