THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The record number of Covid vaccination on Saturday has opened up a blame game on vaccine supply in the state. The state government, which has been critical of the vaccine policy for dragging the pace of the vaccination, administered over 4.5 lakh vaccine doses on Saturday.
The record number of jabs came two days after Union Health Minister Mansuk Mandaviya said the state had not used 10 lakh doses given by the Centre. While the state government used the record distribution to counter the allegations, the BJP supporters were quick to point out that the high numbers proved the allegations raised by the Union minister to be true.
“It is a miracle that the vaccines have become easily available for both online and spot booking, after the Union minister revealed that the state had a stock of 10 lakh doses. Was the artificial scarcity created so far intended to push poor people to private hospitals?,” asked BJP leader Sandeep G Varier on his social media page. The number of doses distributed on July 22, 23 and 24 add upto 10 lakh doses, giving an impression that the state ramped up the distribution after the allegation was made by the minister on July 22 morning. The department has stopped updating information on the vaccine stock on its website for the past two weeks.
However, Health Minister Veena George countered the allegations and said that the state had almost run out of stock. The state had just around two lakh doses left on Saturday night and on Sunday 1,22,069 doses were distributed.
“The state has been distributing vaccine doses in an efficient manner. Our vaccination is better than the national average. We have proved we could give over 4 lakh doses in a day. However, there will be uncertainty regarding vaccination in the state if the Centre does not allow more supply,” she said.
The state gave 16 lakh doses of vaccine last week. It included a previous single day record of 3.5 lakh doses on July 19.Notwithstanding the war of words, the record single day vaccination proved a point about the capacity of public and private sectors to vaccinate maximum in the shortest possible time.
The recent serosurvey found that over 50 per cent of the population are not exposed to the virus and vaccinating them in the shortest period of time was needed to prevent the damage of another wave. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said the state would be able to vaccinate 60 per cent of people in a couple of months if the Centre ensures adequate supply.