NEW DELHI: Union health minister
Harsh Vardhan on Thursday once again denied any shortage of Covid vaccines and called for an end to "fear mongering by some states".
The Union minister took to Twitter to share details of vaccine allocation to the states and said two non-BJP governed states Maharashtra and Rajasthan were among the top 3 in terms of the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses supplied.
"Hue and cry by certain States about partisanship by the Union Govt is just a farce, an attempt to hide their own incompetence," the Union health minister said in a tweet.
The Union minister said that total administered vaccine doses was above 9 crore, while over 4.3 crore was either in stock or nearing delivery to the states.
"Where does question of shortages arise," he questioned and said that the Centre was continuously monitoring and enhancing supply.
This is the second time in two days that the Union health minister has hit out at states, especially Maharashtra, for raising the issue of vaccine shortages.
On Wednesday, he had accused Maharashtra and some other states 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.
"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.
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.