Vaccine shortage not a figment of Maharashtra govt's imagination, it's real: Omar

Mr Abdullah was responding to allegations and counter-allegations between Maharashtra government and Centre over availability of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

''It's safe to say the COVID vaccine shortage is not a figment of the Maharashtra government’s imagination. It's real, it's serious & it won't be resolved by a war of words between people in responsible positions,'' Mr Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that many inoculation centres in Maharashtra are being shut due to a shortage of the coronavirus vaccines and that the state now has 14 lakh doses which would only last for three days. ''We need 40 lakh vaccine doses every week. We can then administer six lakh doses every day in a week. The doses we are getting are not enough,'' he alleged.

However, rejecting the allegations, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that states are trying to cover their 'failures' in containing the pandemic by making 'deplorable' attempts through 'irresponsible' statements to distract attention and spreading panic among people. ''The allegations of vaccine shortage are utterly baseless and the states, including Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, need to improve the implementation of their testing and containment strategies and vaccination drive,'' he said in a statement issued hours after the allegations made by the Maharashtra Health Minister.