Union health minister orders 25 per cent increase in Punjab vaccine supplies

The Union Health & Family Welfare Minister on Wednesday ordered an immediate increase in Punjab’s allocation by 25 per cent following an urgent request by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to provide more vaccine supplies in view of the forthcoming festival season.

New Delhi:The Union Health & Family Welfare Minister on Wednesday ordered an immediate increase in Punjab’s allocation by 25 per cent following an urgent request by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to provide more vaccine supplies in view of the forthcoming festival season.

According to Captain Amarinder Singh, 26 lakh cases of people are overdue for a second Covishield shot. During a meeting with the Union Minister, the CM sought a supply of 55 lac doses of Covid vaccine on priority for his state. Mandaviya assured the Chief Minister of all help in this regard and said that while supplies would ease from next month, he would fulfil the state’s requirement by Oct 31 and ordered the department to immediately increase Punjab’s allocation to meet its urgent requirement.

The Chief Minister said with sufficient supplies, the state government could arrange to vaccinate 5-7 lakh people daily. He pointed out that the allocation of vaccines for Punjab for the month of August currently stood at only 20,47,060 doses of Covishield, while around 26 lac doses of this were required just for those whose second dose was overdue.

Citing data, the Chief Minister said Punjab has relatively very less allocation of vaccines (and hence very low per capita vaccination) as compared to the other states and needs to be increased to cover more population and catch up with the others. He urged the minister to ensure immediate supplies of both Covishield and Covaxin.

Further, the CM sought access for the state to the COWIN portal for analytical purposes. He urged Mandaviya to considerably favourably Punjab’s request for setting up a Bulk Drug Park at Bathinda in response to the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers.

The state government had applied in October 2020 to set up the park over 1320-acre land at Bathinda, with the Council of Ministers approving attractive incentives for the same, he pointed out.

During the meeting with the Union Minister, who holds an additional portfolio of Chemicals & Fertilizers, the Chief Minister also reiterated his government’s demand for enhanced allocation of DAP stocks to Punjab, as per the revised demand by the State. Suppliers should be directed to ensure that adequate supplies are given as per schedule, he told the minister, reiterating the points he had raised yesterday in this regard during his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The timely availability of DAP would greatly help in reducing panic buying and black marketing, which would bring a bad name to both the State and the Central Governments, the Chief Minister emphasized.