Politics
Maharashtra Vaccine Shortage: Central Govt playing with people’s lives: Min Aslam Shaikh
MUMBAI: Responding to a query regarding the shortage of vaccines in Maharashtra and the suspension of vaccination at BMC centres in Mumbai, Mumbai Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh accused the Central government of playing with the people’s lives.
“The Central Government is supposed to procure and supply the vaccines to the states. Right now that is not happening efficiently. States like Maharashtra are facing a huge shortage of vaccines and are forced to suspend the vaccination program from time to time as the stock of vaccines runs out.”
“All the non-BJP states in the country are fed up right now. The planning and implementation of the Central government is totally flawed. On the one hand, the prime minister and other leaders make big announcements on vaccination, but on the other, they forget there are places like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur that often don’t have adequate vaccines,” Shaikh said.
On July 9, the vaccination drive was stopped in all the state and BMC-run vaccination centres in Mumbai. This is the second time in July that the BMC had to shut its vaccination centres in Maharashtra owing to a lack of doses of approved Covid-19 vaccines.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has blamed the Central government for the vaccine crisis in Maharashtra.
Not just the State Government, even doctors are a worried lot. Dr Rahul Pandit, a member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 task force, told India Today Tv, that there is no consistency in the vaccination programme in the state. He added that getting more and more people vaccinated at the earliest is the only long-term solution to the current Covid-19 crisis.
“There is no consistency and the prime reason behind this is that the state isn’t getting adequate doses. To get out of this pandemic, we have to get the maximum number of people vaccinated at the earliest. If we can vaccinate the adult population by December-end, we will perhaps be able to get ourselves out of the pandemic,” said Dr Rahul Pandit, who is also Director, Critical Care, Fortis Hospital-Mumbai.
The senior doctor also expressed fear that if the vaccination target keeps on increasing, there would be two-fold problems for the state.
“First of all, we will not be able to get out of the pandemic and won’t have a hold over the pandemic if this shift continues. Secondly, with an increase in time, the number of mutant strains could also increase. Hence, it is important that the vaccination programme runs in one flow and, in fact, it should happen at a rapid pace to reach the target at the earliest,” he added.