Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Thursday said the state government may move the Supreme Court like other states if the Centre does not invite global tender for procuring coronavirus vaccine. The state is getting Indian vaccines at cheaper cost that are being made available by the Centre whereas it’s costing high through global tender. To avoid such dispute Centre should invite global tender. If it does not do so then state government may move Supreme Court like other states,” he said.
He said that to increase the supply of vaccines, global tenders were issued by the state government in which nine companies participated including vendors of an Indian vaccine manufacturer. Mr Sharma said that the vaccination process has slowed down in the state as vaccine supply from manufacturers is short.
He said the Centre had allocated 12.66 lakh dose quota to the state for the month of June whereas the state requires 7 crore doses for vaccination of 18 to 44 year age group. State government has given an order of Rs 59 crore for vaccine supply but it is very limited from manufacturing companies, the minister said.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them COVID Vaccines free of cost. In addition, the Govt. of India has also been facilitating direct procurement of vaccines by the States/UTs. Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy of Government of India for containment and management of the pandemic, along with Test, Track, Treat and COVID Appropriate Behaviour.
Implementation of the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination has started from 1st May 2021.
Under the Strategy, in every month 50% of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by Govt. of India. It would continue to make these doses available to the State Govts totally free of cost as was being done earlier.
The government of India has so far provided, both through the free of cost category and through direct state procurement category, more than 22 crore vaccine doses (22,16,11,940) to States/UTs. More than 1.84 crore COVID Vaccine doses (1,84,90,522) are still available with the States/UTs to be administered. Furthermore, 11 lakh (11,42,630) vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the States/UTs within the next 3 days
The health minister said that in view of the possible third wave of coronavirus, the medical department has started preparations. He said that on the instructions of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the number of ICU beds is being increased in all paediatric hospitals and other units of the state. In addition, the work on oxygen generation plant and centralised oxygen system is underway, the minister added.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them COVID Vaccines free of cost. In addition, the Govt. of India has also been facilitating direct procurement of vaccines by the States/UTs. Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy of the Government of India for containment and management of the pandemic, along with Test, Track, Treat and COVID Appropriate Behaviour. Implementation of the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination has started from 1st May 2021.
Under the Strategy, every month 50% of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by Govt. of India. It would continue to make these doses available to the State Govts totally free of cost as was being done earlier. The government of India has so far provided, both through the free of cost category and through direct state procurement category, more than 22crore vaccine doses (22,16,11,940) to States/UTs. More than 1.84 crore COVID Vaccine doses (1,84,90,522) are still available with the States/UTs to be administered. Furthermore, 11lakh (11,42,630) vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the States/UTs within the next 3 days
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