Chhattisgarh CM urges PM Modi to prioritise COVID-19 vaccination for weaker sections

In view of the shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give priority to the socially and economically weaker sections of the society in vaccination.

The Chief Minister claimed that there is a shortage of vaccines and due to that, it is imperative that socially weaker and economically weaker sections should be vaccinated first.

In a letter to PM Modi, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister suggested that on-site registration should also be also made available for this category so that no one is deprived of vaccination due to failure to register online.

"As per the government guidelines, the vaccination of age group of 18-44 years to be done by state governments only and for this state has asked 25-25 lakhs doses of each Covishield and Covaxine vaccines from the manufacturers," the letter reads.

He further said that Bharat Biotech in its response has said that only three lakh dosages will be provided by them from desired quantity in the month of May.

"In such a situation, due to a large number of registrations and unavailability of vaccines in that proportion can cause issues in crowd management at vaccination centres," he added.

So, keeping in view the lack of vaccine, an order of priority for vaccination should be fixed in the age category of 18-44 years, and priority should be given to the socially and economically weaker sections, in the light of the shortage of vaccine, the Chief Minister added.

He also said that according to the information received so far, about 1.7 crores of this age group across the country have been registered on the CoWin portal.

As per the direction of the Government of India, the registration process for the COVID-19 vaccine for those between the ages of 18 and 45 has opened from March 28.

The Chief Minister had earlier said that the state has decided to provide free COVID vaccination to every one of the proposed age of 18 years and above, from May 1.

According to an estimate, about 1 crore 30 lakh people out of the 2 crores 90 lakh population of Chhattisgarh are in the age group of 18-44 years, and a total of 2 crores 60 lakh doses would be required for their vaccination. So far, 72 per cent of the 58.7 lakh people of age 45 and above have been vaccinated.

Earlier on Tuesday, Baghel has stated that to vaccinate people of age 18 years and above across the country, nearly 150-200 million vaccine doses will be required.

However, the vaccine manufacturing capacity of Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute is appearing to be far too low. Hence, they would not be able to meet the requirement at a quick pace.

( With inputs from ANI )