Bhubaneswar: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Saturday said that there is no dearth of COVID-19 vaccines with the Union government and that the supply of the shots to Odisha would not be affected.
His reaction came after the state government shot off a letter to the Union Health Ministry on the issue citing likely dearth of vaccines in the light of the new vaccination schedule where universal vaccination for people above the age group of 45 years would begin.
“Spoke to my senior cabinet colleague Harsh Vardhan ji (Union health minister) regarding the panic being created by Odisha government regarding availability of COVID-19 vaccines in Odisha. He assured me that there is no dearth of availability of doses of the vaccines,” Pradhan said.
He also added, “Further, I have been briefed that Odisha has been provided with 34.46 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine so far, out of which only around 23 lakh does have been administered. Odisha will also receive additional 5.50 lakh doses March 28.”
The minister said that he was informed that Odisha has sufficient balance of COVID-19 vaccine doses. “There will be no shortage of vaccines in Odisha or anywhere in the country,” he said.
PNN