Telangana IT minister appeals to Centre to procure COVID-19 vaccines from other countries

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 5 : Amid the acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines across the country, Telangana IT Minister K Taraka Rama Rao has appealed to the Central government to procure COVID-19 vaccines from other countries.
Rao, who is also the COVID-19 Task Force Committee Chairperson, also asked the Centre to come up with a universal vaccination policy for the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
"The Central Government should wake up and procure COVID19 vaccines from the countries where the availability is more. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should directly speak to our ally countries and import vaccines," he said.
The minister added, "The country's economic situation has become worst and the GDP has collapsed like never before. The Centre said they can spend Rs. 35,000 crores on vaccination drive and import vaccines then the central government should go ahead and use the allotted funds to procure vaccines from other countries."
Coronavirus cases in Telangana have been steadily declining over the last few weeks. 2,175 new cases, 3,821 recoveries, and 15 deaths were reported on Friday.
A total of 5,87,664 cases have been reported in the state so far, including 5,53,400 recoveries and 3,346 deaths. There are currently 30,918 active cases.
The state-wide lockdown, which was earlier scheduled to end on May 31, was extended by another 10 days on Sunday but some relaxations in the timings have been given by the state government.