'Begin Production on War Footing': Kejriwal to Centre on Looming Vaccine Shortage

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Monday addressed the citizens on the ongoing Covid crisis in India.

In his address, the CM said that the lockdown has brought about a positive change as a result of which Covid cases in the national capital has seen a significant dip.

While hailing the residents for the successful cooperation amidst the lockdown, the CM also claimed that with the increase in the number of oxygen beds, the city of Delhi is no longer facing a shortage of oxygen and ICU beds.

The CM also took the opportunity to assert that vaccination is being conducted in full swing in the capital and the government is now aiming to increase daily vaccination to 3 lakh to be able to vaccinate all residents of Delhi within the next 3 months.

However, the capital is facing an acute shortage of vaccines which might delay the process of vaccination to 2 years, claimed the CM.

As a solution to this crisis, the CM suggested that the country should begin manufacturing the Covid vaccine on a war footing.

‘Not just 2, several companies should be deployed to produce vaccines. The Centre should collect the formula to produce vaccines from these 2 companies & give it to all those companies that can produce vaccine safely. Centre has the power to do this in these difficult times,’ the Delhi CM was quoted saying while he urged pharmacies to wrap up vaccine production before the next wave of Covid hits India.

A similar appeal was also made by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik who had earlier written to the PM asking for Covid-19 vaccines to be made available in the open market, and demanding more vaccine doses for the state.

Emphasising the country’s vaccine manufacturing potential, Patnaik also suggested that the Centre and states should extend their support to ramp up vaccine production. “The metropolitan cities which contribute the highest Covid cases should be allowed priority vaccination and flexibility in age criteria as these are economic nerve centres of the country.”

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