KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre for not sending adequate doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the states and said that the Centre’s claim of vaccinating all citizens by December this year is just a hoax.
The Trinamool Congress chief further advised the Centre to procure anti-COVID vaccines for States and give them free of cost to all.
“That (vaccinating all citizens before December 2021) is just a hoax. They just say baseless things. The Centre is not sending vaccines to the States. The Centre should procure vaccines for States & give it free of cost to all,” West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said.
That (vaccinating all citizens before Dec 2021) is just a hoax. They just say baseless things. The Centre is not sending vaccines to State govts. Centre should procure vaccines for States & give it free of cost to all: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/PetJKGkJz7
— ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2021
It may be noted that several states, including West Bengal, Odisha, Delhi and Maharashtra, have complained to the Centre over shortage of vaccines and delay in their supply. These states have also urged the Centre to maintain uniformity in the rates of COVID-19 vaccines being used in India.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday wrote to all the chief ministers in the country, urging them to build a consensus over procurement of the COVID vaccines by the Centre for distribution among the states.
In the letter, Patnaik wrote that no state is safe unless all the states adopt vaccination as the topmost priority and execute it on war-footing. "The only way to protect our people against future waves and provide them with a hope of survival is vaccination," Patnaik wrote in the letter that he shared on Twitter, tagging all the chief ministers.
"But this cannot be a battle among the states to compete against each other to procure vaccines," he added.
Patnaik noted that after the Centre announced phase 3 of the vaccine policy, allowing vaccination for everyone above the age of 18 and opened procurement for the states and private sector, the demand increased.
"Many states have floated global tenders for vaccine procurement. However, it is quite clear that the global vaccine manufacturers are looking forward to the Union Government for the clearances and assurances," he said.
1.64 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states: Centre
Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday that more than 1.64 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.
The Centre has so far provided, both through the free of cost and through direct state procurement categories, more than 23 crore vaccine doses to states and UTs.
Of this, the total consumption, including wastages, is 21,71,44,022 doses, the ministry said. A total of 1,64,42,938 COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered, it said.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Centre has been supporting the states and UTs by providing them COVID-19 vaccines free of cost.
