Amid spike in COVID-19 cases, many states complain about vaccine shortage

Amid a massive spike in COVID19 cases in India several states including Maharashtra Chhattisgarh Odisha Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand are facing coronavirus vaccine shortageIndia is currently witnessing the second wave of COVID19 and reported more than 12 lakh new infections on Wednesday the highest singleday spike ever since the beginning of the pandemicMaharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said the state is facing a vaccine shortage and demanded 40 lakh doses every week from the CentreI have just been informed that the Centre increased COVID19 vaccine doses from seven lakhs to 17 lakhs Even this is less because we need 40 lakh vaccine doses a week and 17 lakh doses are not enough Tope addedSatara Sangli Panvel have stopped vaccination today while Buldhana has only todays vaccine stock left Tope saidThe Maharashtra Health Minister added that according to the latest release order of vaccines by the Centre Maharashtra was only given 75 lakh vaccine dosages While Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Haryana have been given far more vaccines than Maharashtra he claimedThe situation is no different in Jharkhand with the state Health Minister Banna Gupta saying the state is left with vaccine stock for only a couple of days We have stock for the next 12 days We have made a request to the Union Home Minister and I am hopeful that he will provide us the vaccine Gupta saidAround 1827800 vaccines have been administered as the first dose and 278000 vaccines as the second dose We have spoken to Union Health Minister and requested him to immediately provide us around 10 lakh vaccines for the first dose We will get it either today or tomorrow he addedOn being asked whether any district of the state facing a shortage of vaccines he said We do have vaccines available with us but there has been a shortage at some locations So we have spoken to Union Health MinisterTerming Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhans remarks unfortunate that the Chhattisgarh government was spreading misinformation and panic on COVID19 vaccination state Health Minister TS Singh Deo on Wednesday had said such remarks affect the joint efforts in the fight against the pandemicIts right and worrisome that mortality is increasing in the state but saying that vaccination isnt being done here is false Centres data show that Chhattisgarh is one of the top four states of the nation that have vaccinated more than 10 per cent of its population he addedSingh Deo said the state has a stock of vaccines for the next three days and has been assured that supply will continue from the CentreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever