On July 15, West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requested the Centre to increase the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses in the state before the third wave breaks in.
Banerjee stated, “I don’t get replies but I will keep writing to PM.”
According to the letter written to PM Narendra Modi, Banerjee claimed that as a result of insufficient supply of vaccines, it had become “difficult” to maintain even the current rate of administered doses i.e. 3 lakh doses per day in West Bengal.
The CM added, “As per our assessment, the state needs around 11.5 crore more doses of COVID-19 vaccine to cover everyone in the eligible categories and going by the current level of supply, it may take rather a longer period before everyone is covered.”
In West Bengal, the vaccination for COVID-19 had begun on 16th January. As of now, 2.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered including 1.81 crore first doses as well as 0.70 crore second doses. The Centre had provided WB with 2.12 crore doses while the remaining 18 lakh doses were produced by private sectors.
A provisional report published at 7 pm informed that more than 32.10 lakh vaccine doses were administered on July 14. In accordance with the Ministry, 13,82,467 individuals between 18-44 years of age were inoculated with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, 1,57,660 people received their second COVID-19 vaccine doses.
