Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the 'lackadaisical' attitude of the state government has 'singularly bogged down' the entire country's efforts to fight the virus
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan lashed out at Maharashtra government and some other states, accusing them of trying to cover their "failures" in containing the pandemic by making "deplorable" attempts through "irresponsible" statements to distract attention and spreading panic among people.
In a strongly-worded statement, the minister rubbished Maharashtra government's claim of shortage of vaccines as "utterly baseless", and said the "lackadaisical" attitude of the state government has "singularly bogged down" the entire country's efforts to fight the virus.
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Premium "The inability of the Maharashtra government to act responsibly is beyond comprehension. To spread panic among the people is to compound the folly further. Vaccine supplies are being monitored on a real-time basis, and state governments are being apprised regularly about it. Allegations of vaccine shortage are utterly baseless," he said.
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Vardhan's sharp counter-offensive came hours after Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said many inoculation centres in Maharashtra are being shut due to a shortage of the coronavirus vaccines and that the state now has 14 lakh doses which would only last for three days.
"We need 40 lakh vaccine doses every week. We can then administer six lakh doses every day in a week. The doses we are getting are not enough," Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said.
Vardhan also said the allegations of vaccine shortage are utterly baseless and the states, including Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, need to improve the implementation of their testing and containment strategies and vaccination drive.
He said the "lackadaisical" attitude of the Maharashtra government has "singularly bogged down" the entire country's efforts to fight the virus.
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Premium Premium Maharashtra recorded the highest daily count of 59,907 cases and 322 deaths on Wednesday.
"The inability of the Maharashtra government to act responsibly is beyond comprehension. To spread panic among the people is to compound the folly further. Vaccine supplies are being monitored on a real-time basis, and state governments are being apprised regularly about it. Allegations of vaccine shortage are utterly baseless," Vardhan said.
Vardhan, however, said when states ask to open up vaccine supplies to everyone over 18, "we must presume that they have done saturation coverage of healthcare workers, frontline workers and senior citizens".
"But the facts are altogether different," he said.
He pointed out that Maharashtra has vaccinated only 86 percent of health workers with the first dose, while the equivalent numbers for Delhi and Punjab are 72 percent and 64 percent
Noting that Maharashtra's "testing is not up to the mark and their contact tracing leaves a lot to be desired", the Union minister said statements made by public representatives in the state about the shortage of vaccines were "nothing but an attempt to divert attention from repeated failures to control the spread of pandemic."
India recorded 1,12,389 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the overall count to 1,29,14,174.
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