Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Haryana point out shortage of COVID-19 vaccine

• Largest manufacturer of Covid-19 vaccines — Serum Institute of India warned against the shortage of raw material affecting the production.
• Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Haryana have already raised the issue of insufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines to the Centre government.
• Union health ministry posted a tweet addressing the issue — claiming no shortage of Covid vaccines at present and in future also.

India, the largest producer of COVID-19 vaccines has managed to supply the vaccine to several countries like Germany, Maldives, Bangladesh etc. However, India halted the export of vaccines to other countries as the largest manufacturer of Covid-19 vaccines -- Serum Institute of India warned against the shortage of raw material affecting the production.

Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Haryana have already raised the issue of insufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines to the Centre government.

Zero-vaccination Day in Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is witnessing a steep rise in COVID-19 cases and is managing to inoculate 2,00,000 people everyday. However, Chhattisgarh’s Health Minister TS Singh Deo told ET that the state has only 2,00,000 doses of Coronavirus vaccines left which will be enough to cover till Monday (April 5). He added that the supply chain has not been broken yet but if the Centre fails to supply doses, the vaccination process will not be able to be held on an everyday basis.

COVID-19 vaccine stocks are reducing fast in Telangana
Telangana’s Health Minister Eatala Rajendra told ET that the state currently left with not more than three-days stock of Covid vaccine. He further said that the state holds the capacity to vaccinate 1,000,000 people per day but due to shortage it is inoculating around 60,000-70,000 persons per day.

Odisha Chief Secretary raised the supply issue to health ministry
Odisha’s Chief Secretary PK Mohapatra wrote to the health ministry raising concerns over the stock supply issue last week saying it has stock of not more than three days. “We have sought more supplies from the Centre,” Shalini Pandit, director of Odisha National Health Mission told ET.

Haryana has enough Covishield vaccines but shortage of Covaxin
The Haryana government claims to have around 5,00,000 doses of Covishield and only 53,000 doses of Covaxin. “We inoculate 1,00,000 people per day and we have enough Covishield vaccine doses for the next four days,” told Rajeev Arora, secretary of the state’s health ministry, to ET.

However, the union health ministry posted a tweet addressing the issue — claiming no shortage of Covid vaccines at present and in future also. “Conversations are rife with rumours about shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in India. Watch this video to clarify your doubts, and put an end to such rumour-mongering”, said the ministry in the video.


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