Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh point to limited availability of COVID-19 vaccines, seek more supply from Centre

New Delhi [India], April 10 : Congress-ruled Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on Saturday said that they had a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines and urged the Centre to ramp up the supply.
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have also written to the Centre seeking more vaccines.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday said that the state has only five days of COVID-19 vaccines left.
He took part in a meeting convened by Congress President Sonia Gandhi of Congress-ruled states and Congress ministers from alliance states to review the efforts to fight COVID-19 including the availability of vaccines, access to medicines and ventilators
"Punjab is left with only five days of supply (5.7 lakh Covid vaccine doses) at the current levels of vaccinating 85000-90000 persons a day. If the state is able to meet its target of 2 lakh vaccines a day, then its current supplies will last only 3 days," the Punjab CM said during the meeting held through video conference.
The Chief Minister said he had written to the Prime Minister and the Union Health Minister to give confirmed supply schedules.
In the meeting, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the shortage of vaccines was a reality and the Union government should take states on board as stakeholders and not as their adversaries.
Gehlot said that the state authorities are aiming for maximum vaccination of people of in the permitted categories.
Gehlot said he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, stating that the present stock of vaccine in Rajasthan will finish in the next two days and requested that at least another 30 lakh doses of vaccine be provided to the state immediately.
"We have already planned to increase the pace of vaccination to 5 lakh beneficiaries per day through a collaborative approach and effective mobilisation of beneficiaries," Gehlot said in his letter.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the state has COVID-19 stock for two days only.
"Chhattisgarh has received 35.83 lakh vaccine doses so far. Presently, we have stock of 4.83 lakh doses which can last two days. We have requested the Central government to provide vaccine doses for seven days so that the vaccination drive continues to run smoothly," Baghel said on Friday.
Odisha vaccination in-charge Bijay Panigrahi on Saturday said that the state is left with only two days of COVID vaccine stock and was expecting to receive more vaccine doses from the Centre within two days.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has also written to the Prime Minister requesting for supply 25 lakh doses of COVID vaccine for the 'Tika Utsav' to be held between April 11 and April 14.
The Chief Minister said that there are only 2 lakh doses in the state and another 2 lakh doses were received on Friday.
Maharashtra and Jharkhand Health Ministers had on Thursday stated that their states were facing vaccine shortage.
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said the state is facing a COVID-19 vaccine crunch and demanded 40 lakh doses every week from the Centre.
Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta had said on Thursday that the state was left with vaccine stock for only a couple of days.
"We have stock for the next 1-2 days. We have made a request to the Union Home Minister and I am hopeful that he will provide us with the vaccine," Gupta said.
Odisha has also been urging the Centre to send more vaccines to the state.
The Centre has said states are being given an adequate number of vaccine doses.
India had started the COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16.
The second phase of the vaccination drive started on March 1 and the third phase on April 1 for all above 45 years of age.