Shortage is not the problem: Health Ministry slams states for 'mismanaging' COVID vaccines

New Delhi, Apr 13: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday said that the shortage of COVID-19 vaccine is not a problem in the country but "mismanagement" of it by states is one. The government confirmed that smaller states get vaccine supply in 8-9 days while bigger states get it on the 5th day.

During a press briefing, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses received by the states stands at 13.10 crore while total consumption, including the wastage, is 11.43 crore.

More than 1.67 crore doses are currently available with the states while 2.01 crore doses are in the supply pipeline.

Ahead of stressing that vaccine mismanagement is a big problem, he said, "On one hand, we have states like Kerala where there is zero wastage (of vaccine) and on the other hand, we have several other states where there still is 8-9% of wastage."

"Till 8 am today, more than 10.85 crore doses of vaccine have been administered in the country. In the last 24 hours, over 40 lakh doses were administered," he added.

The Health Ministry Secretary also said that India has 89.51 per cent people who have been cured, 1.25 per cent deaths and 9.24 per cent active cases. If we look at new cases, we will find that the previous highest surge has already been crossed and the trend is going upward.

Highlighting the worrisome COVID situation in Maharashtra, Bhushan said the week-on-week average of daily cases has grown significantly in the state and has reached a level of 57,000 plus tests per 10 lakh but not keeping pace with the growth of average daily cases.