Delhi demands uniform vaccine price, seeks 60 lakh doses per month: Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi would need 60 lakh doses of vaccine per month to vaccinate around 93 lakh people in the 18-45 age group during May to July, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.
In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, he requested the Centre to direct the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to increase monthly supplies of Covid vaccines to Delhi to 60 lakh doses for the next three months.
"The Central government should make available to the state the requisite number of vaccines to enable vaccination of all citizens. The Centre should actively monitor and supervise the manufacture of vaccines by the private parties so that the supplies inadequate numbers are made to all state governments and this crucial aspect is not left to the direction of private manufacturers," he wrote in the letter.
Kejriwal also said that states should be allowed to develop separate apps or mechanism for vaccination.
He also demanded that a uniform price should be fixed for the vaccines for supplies made to the governments and private hospitals.
"The inherent fallacy and danger in the current differential pricing mechanism is that there is an obvious incentive for private manufacturers to prioritise supply to private hospitals," he said.
"Delhi has a population of two crore, out of which 1.5 crore people are above the age of 18. Vaccinating all of them would mean 3 crore doses. We have received roughly 50 lakh doses so far. Therefore, we need additional 2.5 crore doses.
"As the third Covid wave is also anticipated soon, we want to complete vaccination of all people in Delhi within next three months. To complete it in three months, we would need 23 lakh doses per month from GOI channels during May to July.
"I urge you to direct Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to increase monthly supplies to Delhi to 60 lakh doses during May to July," Kejriwal added.
Meanwhile, Delhi vaccinated over 1.28 lakh people on Saturday, the state government said, adding that it currently has 4.65 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines available for those above 45, and healthcare and frontline workers, while 2.74 lakh doses are available for the 18-44 age category.
Delhi has so far received 5.5 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines for the 18-44 category, and over 43 lakh doses for 45-plus, and healthcare and frontline workers.
