New Delhi: As the shortage of vaccine has started hitting vaccination drive in states, the YSR Congress chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy raised his concerns about the shortage of vaccine in the state.
Notably, YSR Congress is considered as an "ally" of NDA and the party has also proved his alliance with the NDA by supporting controversial farm bills in the Parliament.
While stressing that vaccination is the only way to win Covid-19 battle, the Andhra Pradesh CM stated that the Centre has to come out with alternatives to increase the vaccine production in order to fill the gaps for vaccination drives.
Speaking on the occasion of releasing the first tranche of financial assistance to farmers under the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme on Thursday, Jagan Mohan Reddy said, "If 26 crore people aged over 45 in the country are to be vaccinated, 52 crore doses would be required. The Central government has to take steps to increase vaccine production to meet the existing demand."
"Similarly, 60 crore people aged between 18 and 45 need 120 crore doses. Thus, a total of 172 crore doses were needed, but so far only about 18 crore doses have been administered, which is less than 10 per cent of the actual requirement," he stressed.
Reddy further said that in Andhra Pradesh alone, over seven crore doses would be required to cover beneficiaries belonging to above 18 years, but the state has received only 73 lakh doses from the Centre till date.
With regard to vaccine production, the Chief Minister said that currently, only two companies are manufacturing vaccines across the country with a manufacturing capacity of just seven crore doses per month. "Bharat Biotech is producing one lakh doses while Serum Institute is making six lakh doses per month. Under these circumstances, the fight against Covid would become difficult," he said.
However, the chief minister also urged the people to strictly follow Covid-19 management protocols by wearing masks, maintaining physical distancing; washing hands as living with Covid-19 would be a part of everyone's lives.
Prior to Andhra Pradesh, most of the non-BJP ruled states has red-flagged the vaccine shortage issue with the Centre. The states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, etc have been raising the issue of vaccine shortage for a long.