Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 25

Ahead of the May 1 expansion of the Covid vaccination programme for all adults, the Congress-ruled states expressed their inability to launch the drive from May 1, saying the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech were pre-booked till May 15.

Health ministers of Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan said the manufacturers had said doses were not available until May 15. “The Centre has hijacked the doses,” Jharkhand minister Banna Gupta alleged.

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Punjab minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said the Centre must prioritise vaccine procurement for the most productive workforce between 18 and 45 years. “We have been told by the SII that there’s no supply till May 15. In Punjab, the highest positivity rate is among the 30 to 48-year-olds. That’s alarming. We don’t mind paying the Centre, but it should give us guaranteed doses,” Sidhu added.

The Centre, meanwhile, accused the Opposition of playing “needless politics” as the Congress alleged that the Centre was permitting vaccine makers to indulge in brazen profiteering to the extent of Rs 1.11 lakh crore.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan took to Twitter to say that the new liberalised vaccine policy would grant flexibility to states to procure vaccines even as the Centre will continue to offer vaccines from its stock free of cost to the states.