New Delhi, May 17 (FN Bureau) Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday requested the Central Government to make allocation data of COVID-19 vaccines transparent and open to the public. Addressing a digital press conference here, Mr Sisodia said, ‘We have limited vaccine doses for citizens between 18-44 years, vaccines will only last for 3 more days after today and we may have to shut our centres after if Central Government is unable to provide us with adequate doses for this age group.’
‘In a letter addressed to the Delhi Government, Central Government has committed to distributing 3.83 lakh doses for 45+ age group, however, the same provision has not been extended to 18-44 age group. This is a grave issue that requires the immediate attention of the Central Government. At the very least, they should match the doses for 45+ citizens and distribute 3.83 lakh doses for 18-44 age group as well,’ he said. In response to the letter sent by Central Government, Mr Sisodia said, ‘I have written a letter to the Central Government today requesting their support on three key matters.
‘First, to make vaccine doses available for citizens between 18-44 years, just like they have given us doses for citizens above 45 years,’ he said. ‘At the very least, Central Government should match the doses sent to us for 45+ citizens and direct 3.83 lakh doses for 18-44 age group, otherwise we will have to shut our centres for this age group in the next 4 days,’ the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister said. ‘My second request is to make allocation data of vaccines transparent and open to the public,’ he said. ‘At present, Central Government takes responsibility of allocation 50 per cent of vaccines and passes on the responsibility for the other 50 per cent to State Governments. But there is no transparency in how this happens.
Allocation data on how many vaccine doses have been administered to which state and for which age group, should be open to the public,’ he said. ‘We also need to know how many vaccine doses are being sent to private and government centres. Central Government should be transparent in its vaccine allocation data, just like it has increasingly shown transparency in oxygen allocation in every state,’ the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister said. ‘The third request pertains to communicating information on the number of vaccine doses that will be administered to us in June and July, just like how we have received information for May. This will help us in planning our vaccination programme, so that we can make a streamlined system of how many centres will be equipped with vaccines and how centres will be managed,’ he said.