NEW DELHI/SHILLONG, May 17: The Centre has upped the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines for the north-eastern states including Meghalaya to overcome the shortage, official reports said Monday.
The Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers said the Centre has enhanced the allocation of Remdesivir vials to the Northeast. The drug is “an investigational therapy drug given in acute and severe versions of COVID-19 where oxygen support is a must”, it said.
The ministry said the Meghalaya government has been facing a shortage of Remdesivir.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma had on Sunday called up Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Harsh Vardhan and sought more doses of the drug.
As on Saturday, Meghalaya reportedly had 63,000 vials that may last five-six days.
According to the data made available by the ministry, the number of Remdesivir vials for Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura has been increased from 2,000 to 5,000 this month. The allocation for Assam has likewise been increased from 31,000 to 60,000.
The increase for the remaining states in the Northeast is: 6,000 from 2,000 for Manipur and 4,000 from 2,000 for Mizoram.
Meanwhile, the chief minister informed on Monday that he had suggested Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan to allow selected regions or states to go for full vaccination.
“I had suggested that some kind of saturation strategy should be adopted for the Northeastern states so that the entire population may be fully vaccinated,” the chief minister told reporters while mentioning about his telephonic conversation with the Union Health minister on Sunday.
“We are hopeful that we would get more stock of vaccine than what has been allocated to us. Vaccination is going to be a major part of our strategy to deal with the COVID-19 situation in the state,” he said.
Speaking about the shortage of vaccine for the 18-44 age group, the chief minister said, “80% of the vaccination centres are catering to the 45-plus group. Shortage of vaccine is causing inconvenience to the people.”
