Kerala CM says vaccine stock will get over in 3 days, writes to centre seeking 50L more doses

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Thiruvananthapuram, April 13, 2021:       Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday wrote to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan requesting for additional 50 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the state in the next couple of days. The chief minister, in his letter, said so far Kerala has received 56,84,360 doses of vaccine, including 54,40,740 of Covishield and 2,43,620 of Covaxin, and has administered 48,24,505 doses till April 11, 2021. The stock left is sufficient for conducting vaccination only for the next 3 days, he said.

 

“Kerala is witnessing a rise in the number of COVID cases at present. We have further strengthened our surveillance and prevention systems. All steps are being taken to ensure that COVID protocol is being adhered to. A crucial step to control COVID spread is ensuring vaccination for maximum number of persons in the shortest time. To achieve this, we have

made a 45 days action plan and have been successfully administering around 2 lakh doses per day, which will be further scaled to curb the rapid rise upto 2.5 – 3 lakh doses per day,” Vijayan said in his letter.
The state is witnessing an increase in the number of COVID-19 case after the Kerala Assembly elections were concluded on April 6. On Monday, 5,692 people were found positive for the coronavirus. At total of 45,417 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.A few other state governments have complained of current on imminent vaccine shortages. Several inoculation centres were shut in Maharashtra and Odisha after they ran out of vaccine doses. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab have claimed that their vaccine stock is about to get over and have appealed to the Centre for supplies. The Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi has questioned the Centre’s policy on the export of COVID-19 vaccines amid the shortage in the country.Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan called for an end to “fear mongering” about shortage of vaccines after the states complained of lack of supplies. Vardhan took to Twitter to say that 9.1 crore vaccine doses have been utilised, while 2.4 crore are in stock and 1.9 crore vaccines are in the pipeline, indicating there are sufficient doses available for all states.