As states complain of vaccine shortages, health minister says ‘useless statements’ are causing panic

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said that “useless statements” related to Covid-19 vaccine shortages in states have been causing panic among the residents. Mandaviya took over the ministry from Harsh Vardhan after being inducted into the Cabinet on July 7.

India’s immunisation drive against the coronavirus disease has been hurt as several states have complained about shortages of vaccine doses in recent months. In view of the scarcity, many vaccination centres in various states, including Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, were closed on Tuesday.

The vaccination rate has also slowed down across the country. An average of 62.10 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered daily in the last week of June, data on the government’s CoWIN portal showed. The number dropped to 41.80 lakh in the first few days of July. The daily average dropped to 35 lakh between July 5 and July 11.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, Mandaviya said that he had been informed about the shortages through letters from various state governments and statements from politicians. “This situation can be better understood by an actual analysis of the facts,” he said.

The health minister said that states had been informed about the available doses for the month of July on June 19. After this, on…

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