Centre orders immediate 25 percent increase in Punjab vaccine supplies
Responding to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s urgent request for more vaccine supplies in view of the forthcoming festival season and the 26 lakh cases of people overdue for a second Covishield vaccine dose, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday ordered an immediate increase in Punjab’s allocation by 25 percent.
Punjab CM, during a meeting with the Union Minister, sought the supply of 55 lac doses of Covid-19 vaccine on priority for his state. Mansukh Mandaviya assured Captain Amarinder Singh of all help in this regard and said that while supplies would ease from next month, he would fulfill the state’s requirement by October 31 and ordered the department to immediately increase Punjab’s allocation to meet its urgent requirement.
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The Chief Minister said with sufficient supplies, the state government could arrange to vaccinate 5-7 lakh people daily. He pointed out that the allocation of vaccines for Punjab for the month of August currently stood at only 20,47,060 doses of Covishield vaccine, while around 26 lac doses of this were required just for those whose second dose was overdue.
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Citing data, Punjab CM said that the state has relatively very less allocation of vaccines (and hence very low per capita vaccination) as compared to the other states, and needs to be increased to cover more population and catch up with the others. He urged the Minister to ensure immediate supplies of both Covishield and Covaxin.
As of August 7, 2021, Haryana’s per capita vaccination stands at 35.2, Delhi’s at 39.4, J&K’s at 43.7, Himachal Pradesh’s at 62.0 and Rajasthan’s at 35.1, as against 27.1 for Punjab.
The Chief Minister observed that Punjab has, till 7th August, received only 1,00,73,821 doses, as against Haryana (1,27,94,804), Delhi (1,06,79,728), J&K (66,90,063), Himachal Pradesh (55,51,177) and Rajasthan (34,954,868).
The Chief Minister further sought access for the state to the COWIN portal for analytical purposes.
-PTC News
