‘Useless statements being made to create panic’: Health Minister on vaccine shortage reports

New Delhi [India], July 14: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday denied the claims of vaccine shortage and said that for July the availability of doses has been increased to 13.50 crore.
In a series of tweets, the health minister said that “useless statements are being made only to create panic among the people.”

“Regarding the availability of the vaccine, I have come to know from the statements and letters of various state governments and leaders. This situation can be better understood by an actual analysis of the facts. Useless statements are being made only to create panic among the people,” he said.

Union Health Minister said that the Centre provided 11.46 crore vaccine doses to state governments in June.

“To ensure vaccination in government and private hospitals, the Centre provided 11.46 crore vaccine doses to state governments in June. For July, the availability of doses has been increased to 13.50 crore,” tweeted Mandaviya (roughly translated from Hindi).

He said that the central government on June 19 itself has informed the states on how many vaccine doses will be made available to each of them in July.

“After this, on June 27 and July 13, states were informed in advance about the number of doses available, in batches, each day for the first and second fortnights of July. So the states know very well when and in what quantity they will get the vaccine doses. The central government did this so that state governments can carry out vaccination at district-level without any inconvenience to the people,” the minister tweeted.

He also lashed out at states saying, “If the Center is already giving this information in advance on its behalf and even then we see mismanagement and long queues of vaccine takers, then it is very clear what the problem is and who is the reason for it.”

He further slammed politicians for making misleading comments and said, “Politicians making misleading comments in the media need to introspect if they have distanced themselves so much from administrative process and information related to it that they are not aware of the information being provided in advance with regards to the supply of the vaccine.

Many states such as Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha have reported shortages in COVID-19 vaccines.