Centre should have brought out global tenders for one-stop COVID vaccine procurement: Rajasthan CM

Demanding free vaccination for every citizen of the country, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said it would be better if the Central government, instead of the state governments, would have brought out global tenders for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

In a series of tweets, Gehlot said a one-stop procurement would be better for all states.

"Due to lack of COVID vaccine in the country, many states are taking out global tenders to get vaccines from other countries. It would have been better if the central government had taken out the global tender and bought the vaccine and distributed it in the states and later would have taken payment from the state governments," the Rajasthan Chief Minister said in a tweet in Hindi.

"However, the demand of the citizens is that the vaccine of this deadly pandemic, like other vaccines, should be provided completely free of cost by the Central Government. This will lead to a system of one-stop procurement which would be better for all states," he added.

Many states across the country have reported a shortage of vaccines, especially for the 18 years to 44 years age group. Earlier today, the Delhi government said it was forced to shut down 100 vaccination sites over 17 schools that administered Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN due to a dearth of supply from the manufacturer. On May 7, the Maharashtra government also said they are receiving no supply of COVAXIN from the manufactures.

States like Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have also reported a shortage of vaccines. Earlier today, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to import COVID vaccine from credible sources globally.

( With inputs from ANI )