Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday said that over 1.39 lakh people were vaccinated in Delhi on Monday, of which nearly 46 per cent belonged to the 18-44 age group.
“A total of 1,39,261 people were vaccinated yesterday in Delhi out of which 64,151 are from the 18-45 age group,” Sisodia tweeted.
“The Central Government has posed a question to the Delhi Government over not passing of a global tender to procure vaccines. The Centre has already exported vaccines that could have been used in India, and is now sowing discord among the States. In times of a deadly crisis, the role of the Central Government has had a detrimental effect on managing the Covid-19 crisis and certainly pitting States against each other only makes things worse,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
“Countries such as the United States and the European nations prioritised vaccinating their own people before even thinking of earmarking and exporting vaccines to other countries. In India however, we see that our ruling Government -- the Central Government -- instead of taking immediate interest in managing the COVID crisis is more absorbed in lying and vilifying others”, Sisodia countered.
Conveying his dissatisfaction with the BJP Government with regard to managing the distribution of the shots across the nation, Sisodia stated that the Centre had made grave mistakes in the distribution of vaccines to State Governments and that India could have vaccinated an additional 6.5 crore citizens had it begun the mass vaccination drive and inoculated individuals fully in March.
In an appeal to the Central Government, the Deputy Chief Minister stated that it was the role and responsibility of the Government of India to integrate the needs of all States and procure vaccines through a global tender for India instead of leaving States to fight in an international marketplace for the jabs.
Sisodia said that if States are asked to purchase vaccines internationally through global tenders, then the State with the largest coffers would unfairly procure the maximum number of doses. “This will lead to fights among States, and further bashing and criticism of the country in international communities,” he said.