After the Opposition Congress raised the issue of shortage of polio vaccines, Rajasthan Medical and Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf has affirmed that all vaccines, including the oral polio vaccines (OPV), are available in the State in sufficient quantity.
The Centre was supplying 70 lakh OPV in the current financial year against the requirement of 64 lakh vaccines, he said.
In a series of tweets, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday asked the BJP government to immediately take up the issue of shortage of polio vaccines with the Union Health Ministry and get their supply restored.
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Mr. Gehlot had pointed out that polio had been eradicated in the State after several years of hard work. “It must not be allowed to strike again due to apathy on our part,” he said, adding that the scarcity of vaccines was posing a serious health risk for children.
Even as Mr. Gehlot said that the government must ensure that the polio vaccine supply was not interrupted, Mr. Saraf said the Congress leader's remarks were “misleading” and the Centre was making regular supply of both OPV and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).