Centre slams Delhi govt, on vaccination irregularities; asks for written explanation in 48 hrs

New Delhi April 06: Coming heavily on the Delhi government, Union Health Ministry on Monday wrote a letter to the Delhi government on irregularities in the identification of COVID vaccination beneficiaries below the age of 45 years in the city.

 

Writing the letter to the principal secretary GNCTD, the government has pointed out that there have been serious lapses in the registration of beneficiaries by the VIMHANS (Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health, Neuro & Allied Sciences) located at Nehru Nagar area in the North-East District of Delhi, operating as a Private COVID Vaccination Centre.

 

 

The health ministry said, "VIMHANS has been found to register beneficiaries below the age of 45 years as Health Care Workers (HCWs) & Front Line Workers (FLWs), and vaccinate them."

 

 

A release from the health ministry said, "As per provisions of the ongoing Covid-I9 vaccination drive, citizens above 45 years of age (from 1st April 2021) are being vaccinated along with Health Care Workers (HCWs) and Front Line Workers (FLWs) above 18 years of age as per the recommendations of NEGVAC. CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work) sample data (l9th March-3rd April 2021) of vaccinated beneficiaries from this private CVC verified by the health ministry, revealed that many beneficiaries lie outside the ambit of the eligible beneficiaries (not under the identified priority populations groups), in violation of the guidelines laid down by the union health ministry."

 

In the letter, the ministry added that such serious lapses can harm the countrywide vaccination exercise. "Noting that vaccines are a precious commodity, these serious lapses at the VIMHANS CVC in terms of compliance of COVID- 19 vaccination guidelines harm the countrywide vaccination exercise as eligible beneficiaries may get deprived of vaccination," it said. The ministry further asked the Delhi administration to immediately issue a show-cause notice to VIMHANS regarding such wrong practices which violate COVID-19 vaccination norms. Further, it has also sought a written explanation from the Delhi administration within the next 48 hours.

 

In another case, the Delhi Government, in pursuance of the advice from the Union Health Ministry, has issued a show-cause notice to Bensups Hospital, Sector-12 Dwarka, Delhi for violation of the guidelines issued by the Centre on the eligible groups of the population for receiving COVID vaccination, where persons below the age of 45 years have been wrongly registered as HCWs and FLWs.

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