#NewVaccinePlan: States suspend drive as shortage problem continues; time to adapt ramp up?
13 May, 2021 | Rakshanda Afrin
As India is moving ahead with its mega Covid vaccination drive, the gap between the number of people who register for Covid vaccines and those managing to get vaccinated is growing steadily.
As India is moving ahead with its mega Covid vaccination drive, the gap between the number of people who register for covid vaccines and those managing to get vaccinated is growing steadily. According to Health Ministry total vaccination done in the last 24 hours is 18, 94, 991. Covaxin receives DGCI approval for Phase 3 & phase 4 trail on children. Several states are still struggling with vaccine shortage. Karnataka along with Maharashtra suspends Covid-19 vaccine drive for 18-44 years of age.
The Centre says the reason for reduction of vaccinations is that people are hesitant to leave their homes during the lockdown in states. The Centre has also suggested that there are less staff administering vaccines. State governments however have reiterated that they do not have enough vaccine dose and that the rest of the infrastructure is in place.
Aslam Sheikh, Minister in Maharashtra Cabinet requested the Central government should relax norms for buying vaccines and added that if the Centre eases its import laws a bit, the state will be able to vaccinate the people in 3-4 months. Few states are demanding more rights that need to be given to them so that they can purchase vaccines from the market and vaccinate people.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Atishi Marlena had said no centre in the national capital will be able to administer ‘Covaxin’ to the age group of 18-44 years due to unavailability of its stock. AAP informed that the stock for Covaxin is absolutely finished, and due to this, nearly 100 centres administering Covaxin have been forced to temporarily shut down in the capital. There has been acute shortage of vaccines across the country and since vaccination substantially lowers the risk of contracting the Chinese virus when combined with covid appropriate behavior, and a positive mindset, the Centre need to ramp up its vaccination plan inorder to curb the spike.
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States must be allowed to acquire to float global tenders to acquire Covid-19 vaccines. BMC issued a global bid to procure one cr Covid vaccine doses to vaccinate citizens in Mumbai at the earliest. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has announced that India’s vaccine production is likely to reach 8 crore doses in May and 9 crore doses in June.