New Delhi: As various parts of the country are facing an acute shortage of vaccines, state governments are now running out of both brands of vaccines which has forced them to shut down vaccination centres.
Earlier today, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia blamed the Central Government over the shortage of vaccines, sharing a letter from Bharat Biotech denying the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Delhi Government has claimed that the national capital has run out of Covaxin while the doses of Covishield is left only for the next 9 days.
Facing an unprecedented crisis, there are a number of states which have decided to float global tenders to procure Covid vaccines. The list of such states includes Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
While speaking over the matter, Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh said, "The handling of the current crisis by the BJP government at the centre has been nothing short of abysmal. Sheer mismanagement, lax approach, no foresight, no preparedness, misplaced priorities and no empathy are the words you associate with the central government going by the way they have handled this current crisis. They have betrayed the trust bestowed by crores of Indians on them."
He further alleged, "This Government is seeking opportunity in crisis, this is ‘Apda Mein Awsar Sarkar’ and today also, that if you will try to increase the capacity, it is not a knee jerk reaction that you will put the money and from tomorrow the vaccine production will start."
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On Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct Bharat Biotech to transfer the technology to companies that are capable of manufacturing the vaccine to ramp up the production of vaccines in the country.
Later, twelve Opposition parties also wrote a letter to PM Modi giving suggestions to the Government to tackle the current pandemic. Terming the current situation of Coronavirus as "apocalyptic human tragedy", these parties demanded the Government to invoke compulsory licensing to expand domestic vaccine production.
"Our leaders have again and again reiterated how Center should integrate Patent's Act and manufacture vaccines at different places, but they are only focussed to create their positive image in public space," Vallabh said.
Surprisingly, a report of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change that was tabled in on March 8, had warned the Centre that the country might witness a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines if the inoculation drive is opened for a large section of the population.
Attacking the Government over the mismanagement in vaccination drive, the Congress leader said, "Majority of the states are not having stock for 45+ citizens who have already taken their first dose and vaccination drive has begun for 18+ people. For that, the Center needs to change its focus and rather than acting as a PR firm, it should work as a Government. Above all, they need to exempt GST over Covid vaccines."
