BHUBANESWAR: A war of words broke out between BJP and BJD over vaccine supply while the state undertook vaccination in only 556 of the more than 1,400 centres on Wednesday due to short-supply.
Stating that there was no vaccine shortage, Union petroleum and steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan said of the around 11 to 12 crore doses distributed among states and UTs so far, Odisha has got more than more than 45 lakh doses while there was steady supply every second or third day.
“Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had never talked about vaccine shortage. The health secretary has started (talking about) this. He is speaking the voice of Rahul Gandhi,” Dharmendra said while responding to media queries here.
Countering Dharmendra’s statement, senior BJD leader Pratap Keshari Deb said the Union minister’s statement is not based on facts.
“The state is getting vaccines that can last one or two days. In such a situation how can the state plan vaccination for a week or a fortnight?” Deb said.
Stating that the additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra was frequently taking up the matter with the Centre only to get enough vaccine so that more and more people are vaccinated at the earliest. “This concern is justified as the second wave is entering the state via Chhattisgarh. It’s natural for the health department to panic,” he said. Deb said the CM too has taken up the matter with PM.
If the vaccine would be available, then only the state can gradually increase the target. But that is not the case, he said, adding,
“What is the problem is the state asks for vaccine for its people. We are not doing any politics in this.” On Wednesday, total 71,401 people were vaccinated. The state got 2.71 lakh Covishield on Monday.
The vaccines reached to many remote districts on Wednesday itself. “Now, the state has around 1.74 lakh Covishield stock. There would be vaccination in all 30 districts on Thursday,” director, family welfare, Bijay Panigrahi said.
A health department source said most of the 1.74 lakh doses would be used in one day itself. Besides, the state has 2.49 lakh doses of Covaxin, which is being used only in Bhubaneswar.
The state has so far used 46.56 lakh doses.