Prakash Javadekar

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar today said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is "continuously doing politics in the name of Delhi" as the Aam Aadmi Party chief today requested the Centre to provide 80 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses per month. Mr Javadekar said that the union government has already provided 50 lakh vaccines to Delhi and shall be providing it more in the coming days also.

He further targeted Arvind Kejriwal and said that the CM should stop making excuses. "20 crore vaccines administered across the country till now, Centre has provided all of it," he added. He also said that, "Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has drawn the plan of how to vaccinate all adults before December."

Delhi CM today in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested four ways to boost COVID-19 vaccination production as he notified that the capital city has halted the rollout for the 18-44 age group due to a shortage of doses.

Kejriwal said that from Sunday, all vaccination centres for youths in Delhi will be closed as stocks have run out. Delhi requires 80 lakh doses a month to vaccinate people in three months. But it only received 16 lakh doses in May and the Centre has further decreased Delhi's quota in June to 8 lakh doses, Kejriwal said.

So far 50 lakh people have been vaccinated in Delhi. Further, 2.5 crore more doses are required to vaccinate all adults in Delhi, he said.

"With this speed of 8 lakh doses per month, it will take 30 months to vaccinate all the adults alone. By then, no one knows how many waves will arrive and how many deaths will occur," Kejriwal said, urging the prime minister to raise the quota and supply to the city immediately.

While, the CM said it was a matter of relief that that the speed of coronavirus spread has significantly slowed down in Delhi but cautioned that it did not mean the threat was averted and emphasised on maintaining all the precautions.

In the past 24 hours, around 2,200 cases were reported and the positivity rate is 3.5 per cent.