Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has asked the centre to send more vaccines
The row between the Rajasthan government and the centre over sending enough COVID-19 vaccines to the state has escalated, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claiming the centre gave "completely incorrect" data.
There is no shortage of vaccines in Rajasthan, the centre said on Tuesday after the state said it will run out of vaccines soon if the centre does not urgently send more supplies.
"The Health Ministry claimed that Rajasthan received 37.61 lakh vaccines and till yesterday 24.28 lakh vaccines have been administered. This data is completely incorrect. As of March 8, Rajasthan received 31,45,340 vaccines. Of these, 2,15,180 vaccines have been made available to the Army," Mr Gehlot tweeted in Hindi on Tuesday.
"29,30,160 vaccines were for frontline workers. As of 8 March, 23,26,975 vaccines have been administered in the state. 1,62,888 vaccines got spoiled, which is less than the 10 per cent limit allowed by the central government. Thus, on March 8, only 4,40,297 vaccines were available in the state," the Chief Minister tweeted.
"More than two lakh people are being vaccinated daily in the state. In such a situation, on March 8, vaccine was available for only two days of vaccination, so the state government demanded to send additional vaccines from the centre, after which the state received 85,000 vaccines on March 9," Mr Gehlot said.
"The data released by the Ministry of Health for Rajasthan is completely incorrect. I will appeal to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to instruct his officials to provide vaccines soon and not give false information about Rajasthan," the Chief Minister said.
The state government had asked the centre for more doses to be sent as it slowed down the pace of the vaccination drive with only those who need their second dose being administered the shot on Tuesday.
"The factual position is that there is no shortage of COVID-19 vaccine with the state at present. Rajasthan has been supplied 37.61 lakh doses and has consumed only 24.28 lakh doses till Monday night. The central government is regularly monitoring availability of vaccine supply in all states and UTs (union territories), and providing the doses as per their requirement and consumption pattern," the centre said.