New Delhi, Jun 3 (IANS): The Delhi government on Thursday blamed the Centre for not providing it the required amount of Covid-19 vaccines despite its preparedness and facilities to inoculate people.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain called on Central government to rethink its current vaccination policy because when a state is ready to vaccinate and to buy vaccines, then it should get the required number of vaccines.
"Delhi government is fully prepared and has the best facility to vaccinate the entire population, but we are not getting the required number of vaccines from the Central government," he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said that the Delhi government wants to vaccinate more and more people because it wants to save the lives of the citizens.
"I understand that many people who have taken the first jab of Covaxin are not getting the scheduled second jab in Delhi. The situation has become like this because of the mismanagement on the behalf of the Central government.
"They have changed the schedule of vaccination. If the Central government had given us the required number of vaccines, then there should have been no problem.
"But they are not providing vaccines. We are hopeful that people who are waiting for the Covaxin second dose will get it as early as possible," he said.
Noting that the Central government earlier told them to vaccinate more and more people, Jain noted that according to the Central government, 50 per cent of the vaccines will go to it, 25 per cent will be given to the states and 25 per cent will be given to the private partners.
"I think it is high time to rethink this policy and rework it. When a state is ready to vaccinate its citizens, then that state must get the required number of vaccines.
"The Delhi government is fully prepared to vaccinate the entire population, but we are not getting it (vaccines). We are buying these vaccines and giving them for free to the citizens but due to the policy of the Central government, we are not getting the required number of vaccines," he contended.
The whole control over the vaccines and the price of the vaccines are with the Central government, Jain said, adding "the cost of the vaccines in the private hospitals is also monitored by the Central government".
About black fungus, he said 1,044 such cases were there in Delhi till Wednesday. "Out of these 1,044 cases, 92 patients have recovered fully and 89 people have lost their lives due to black fungus."
The Minister said for the past three days, Delhi has been reporting a positivity rate below one per cent which is a good sign, but still appealed to every citizen to follow Covid protocols.
"Delhi reported 576 positive Covid-19 cases and the positivity rate was 0.78 per cent.
"In this phase of the Covid pandemic, Delhi even witnessed over 28,000 cases in 24 hours but now the number of Covid cases is coming down which is a good sign, he said.
"Before this second phase of the pandemic in Delhi, day to day cases used to stay within 200. My appeal to every citizen is that please maintain social distancing, wear a mask all the time and wash your hand from time to time."