Amid complaints of shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday alleged that various leaders were making “irresponsible statements” about the Covid-19 vaccination drive and requested them to desist from the “shameless urge to play politics” in the midst of a pandemic.
He said more than 1.24 crore balance and unutilised Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs and over 94,66,420 doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan took to Twitter, urging “these leaders to spend more energy in planning and not in creating panic”.
“I’m seeing irresponsible statements from various leaders regarding the largest vaccination drive.
Stating facts so that people can judge the intentions of these leaders.
“After GoI (Government of India) provided 75 per cent of vaccines available for free, vaccination speed picked up and 11.50 crore doses were given in June,” Vardhan said in a tweet.
He said if there are issues in States, it shows that they need to plan their vaccination drives better. “Intra-state planning and logistics are the responsibility of the states.”
“If these leaders are aware of these facts and are still making such statements, I consider it most unfortunate. If they don’t know, they need to focus on governance. Will again request state leaders to spend more energy in planning and not in creating panic,” he said in another tweet.