New Delhi, May 11 (IANS): In order to meet its target of vaccinating around three lakh people per month in the national capital, the Delhi government will now float a global tender for procuring Covid vaccines, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday.
The development has come at a time when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government is seeking adequate medical supplies for the national capital, including vaccine doses and oxygen, to meet its growing demand in the wake of the raging second wave of the Covid pandemic.
"The Delhi government will float a global tender for vaccines," said Sisodia, who is also the nodal minister for Covid management in the national capital.
"The BJP says that Delhi government should have floated a global tender to buy vaccines from the international market. Does this mean that all the state governments should go to the international market to buy vaccines? Then what is the role of the government of India," Sisodia asked.
With this, Delhi will join states like Odisha and Telangana, which had announced earlier that they would be buying Covid vaccines from other countries.
Addressing a press conference, Sisodia alleged that the BJP-ruled Centre is forcing the state governments to invite global tenders for vaccine procurement.
The Central government wants the states to compete and fight with each other in the international market for vaccines, Sisodia alleged.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue of vaccine shortage, saying the Centre should share the vaccine formula of the two manufacturers with other capable pharmaceutical companies to scale up production in the country.
"At present, Delhi government is administering around one lakh doses per day which will be increased to three lakh in the coming days. Over 100 schools have been converted into vaccination centers in the last few days. Vaccination centers will soon be started at around 200 more schools. But we are facing a shortage of vaccines at the moment," Kejriwal said.