Some leaders making irresponsible statements about Covid vaccination drive: Harsh Vardhan

Taking to Twitter he urged these leaders to spend 'more energy in planning and not in creating panic'

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday asked opposition-ruled states to stop indulging in “shameless politics” over the Covid-19 vaccination drive and focus on governance after some states piled pressure on the Centre for allocation of larger share of vaccines.

Vardhan’s remarks came days after chief ministers of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi sought a larger allocation of vaccines to keep up the momentum of the vaccination drive.

The minister said the vaccination drive had picked up pace after the Centre decided to supply 75 per cent of the available vaccines for free, leading to 11.5 crore beneficiaries getting doses in June.

He said the states have already been informed in advance about the availability of vaccines in July – 12 crore doses – with details of the supply shared 15 days beforehand.

“I request these leaders to desist from their shameless urge to play politics even in the midst of a pandemic,” Vardhan said.

He said he considered such statements by leaders as “unfortunate”, particularly if they are aware of the facts about availability of vaccines.

“If they don’t know, they need to focus on governance,” Vardhan said.

The minister advised the leaders to spend more energies on planning and “not on creating panic”.

Rajasthan has been allocated 65 lakh doses of vaccines in July, Chhattisgarh 24 lakh, and Delhi 20 lakh.

Rajasthan had demanded 1.5 crore doses in July, Chhattisgarh one crore doses and Delhi 45 lakh doses.