Sisodia alleges Centre for mismanagement as Bharat Biotech says can't provide Delhi additional Covaxin

Manish Sisodia wrote in a tweet that due to unavailability of vaccines, they have been forced to shut down 100 covaxin-vaccination centres that were available in 17 schools in the national capital.

Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of Covaxin, has written to the Delhi government that it cannot provide "additional" Covaxin doses to the national capital due to limited availability and "government directives." He alleged that the export of 6.6 crore doses of vaccine was the biggest mistake and accused the Centre for mismanagement of vaccines. Mr Sisodia wrote in a tweet that due to unavailability of vaccines, they have been forced to shut down 100 Covaxin vaccination centres that were available in 17 schools in the national capital.

Mr Sisodia cited the last line of the letter written by Bharat Biotech's chairman Krishna Ella responding to the Delhi government's request on May 7. According to the letter, the manufacturing company could not provide the requested quantity of vaccines to the Delhi government due to unavailability, under instructions of the concerned government official. He alleged that this meant the central government was controlling the supply of the vaccines. The Delhi Government had asked for 1.34 crore vaccine doses, 67 lakhs each of Covaxin and Covishield, to vaccinate those between 18 and 44 years of age.

According to the letter by Dr Ella, "There has been an unprecedented demand for our vaccine and in spite of increasing production every month, we are unable to keep up with the demand. Further, we are making dispatches as per the directives of the concerned government officials. We therefore sincerely regret that we cannot make any additional supplies as required by you."

In response to Manish Sisodia's tweet, Bharat Biotech co-founder Suchitra Ella wrote on her Twitter account, "Covaxin dispatched 10/5/21.18 states have been covered though in smaller shipments. Quite disheartening to the teams to hear some states complaining about our intentions. 50 of our employees are off work due to Covid, yet we continue to work under pandemic lockdowns 24x7 for you."

So far, several states have had to pause or delay the vaccination covering adults below 45 because of the shortage of vaccines.

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