NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry on Saturday said there is no shortage of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in the country and reports claiming its shortfall is “false and misleading.” The PCV is “now an integral part of India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) and is available free of cost to the entire birth cohort of 27.1 million,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry’s response was to a media report claiming that there is a shortage of PCV. Noting that the report is “ill-informed,” the ministry said over 70.18 lakh doses are available with states and union territories. The report quoted health officials stating that a tendering delay has led to the disruption in pneumococcal vaccination schedules of tens of thousands of children across the country for over a month.