New Delhi: The Capitals low vaccination numbers on Monday, the day India posted record inoculations, sparked off a fresh war of words between the Delhi government and the Centre, as Union Minister Hardeep Puri and members of the Delhi BJP blamed the AAP-led government for the low numbers and Dy CM Sisodia reiterated that the Centre should focus on supplying adequate vaccines to states and UTs. According to AAP leader Atishi, who has been issuing the daily vaccination bulletin, Delhi on Monday administered 76,062 doses of Covid vaccines — not a significant change from the average pace of vaccinations in the city. As soon as the numbers became public, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, "On a day India vaccinated more than 84 lakh people, Delhi administered only 76,259 out of more than 11 lakh doses available. Why? Instead of focusing on the health & welfare of people of Delhi, Kejriwal Ji is busy in Punjab searching for a Sikh CM face for his party." Responding to this, Sisodia wrote back on the microblogging site, "Hardeep ji: pls focus on providing enough vaccines for the youth, rather than just abusing Arvind Kejriwal all the time. Central Govts vaccination flip-flops have created a crisis situation all over the country." MLA Atishi and Sisodia have maintained that the Centre did not inform it in time of the specifics of the revised Covid vaccination policy. For starters, they said the Centre had refused to supply any extra doses under this revised policy. Moreover, Atishi on Tuesday said that despite repeated requests from the Delhi government seeking permission to use vaccines meant for the 45+ age category for the 18-44 age group, the Centre had refused to communicate with them. She said the Centre had now finally allowed it. Explaining this situation, Atishi said that Delhi has over 8 lakh vaccines for the 45+ age group, under which vaccinations have plateaued. "First, more than 50 per cent of the 45 and above population in Delhi has already been vaccinated therefore, less than half of the population in this age group is left for being vaccinated. Secondly, as Delhi had faced about 30-35 per cent positivity rate in the second Covid-19 wave, so out of the population that hasnt taken their vaccine dose as of now, most of them are not eligible for vaccination... Lastly, there are many people who have and will have vaccine hesitancy," she said, adding that the Centre had not replied to repeated letters seeking permission to use this stock for the youth. She noted that the youth in the Capital have consistently shown more enthusiasm and even on Monday, of the 76,000 shots, over 50,000 were given to those in the 18-44 age group, implying that clearer and timely instructions from the Centre would have boosted vaccinations for June 21. Moreover, the AAP leader went on to urge the Centre to not play politics over Covid vaccination, while also alleging that it had completely mismanaged the countrys vaccination policy. According to the vaccination bulletin on Tuesday, the Capital had administered a total of 66.02 lakh doses of the Covid vaccines. For the 45+ age group, the city has around 8.48 lakh doses left, whereas for the 18-44 age group, Delhi has around 2.14 lakh doses left. "The Central government should stop playing politics in the matters related to vaccination as politics, press releases and press conferences will not save India from the third Covid 19 wave. "India can only be saved by the third wave of Covid 19 due to vaccine doses. The government must approve the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines as soon as possible and make the same available to the people of India. As, faster the vaccination, safer India gets from the next Covid-19 wave," Atishi said.

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