Delhi govt ordered 13.4 mn Covid jabs but only got 0.35 mn in May: Sisodia

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said the Delhi Government had ordered 13.4 million doses of Covid vaccines in May but the Centre cleared only 0.35 million doses against it

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said the Delhi Government had ordered 1.34 crore doses of COVID vaccines in May but the Centre cleared only 3.5 lakh doses against it.

Briefing the mediapersons, the Deputy Chief Minister said, "Today BJP alleged that Delhi Government ordered only 5.50 lakh doses of vaccine. The Government of India had decided in April that the two companies can sell vaccines to states directly, states were also intimated the same. We ordered 1.34 crore doses for Delhi for people above 18 years."

"Right after our order, the Centre sent us a letter saying Delhi can get only 3.5 lakh doses in May including 92,840 doses of Covaxin and 2,67,690 doses of Covishield. The vaccine companies had not responded by then. BJP is lying that we ordered only 5.50 lakh doses. We had ordered 1.34 crore doses," Sisodia claimed.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader further showed a few letters before the media to validate his points. He also slammed the BJP-led central government for the export of COViD vaccines to foreign countries.

"These letters are proof that the Centre is cutting short the number of vaccines being asked by the states and selling that to foreign countries. In what greed were 6.50 crore vaccines supplied to foreign countries when people in our own country are dying?" alleged Sisodia.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that the Delhi government has been left with the Covid vaccine stock for 3-4 days.

"Vaccine has played a major role in curbing the COVID-19 cases. We can prevent the third wave if we vaccinate people on a large scale but the supply of vaccines is an issue. We have placed orders with companies. We request the Centre to give us more vaccines," stated Kejriwal.