10 states requested for central vaccine procurement before PM Modi's announcement, say insiders

The trigger for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on Monday that the central government will procure Covid-19 vaccines for states were requests for the same from as many as ten chief ministers, government insiders said.

The first such request is learnt to have come from Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh through a communication dated May 15.

By June 2, chief ministers of nine states joined in with similar requests.


Letters to the same effect had come in from CMs of Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra, Kerala, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, government sources said.

In an address to the nation, Modi said a system would be put in place within two weeks to ensure that 25% of the vaccination work with states will be henceforth handled by the Centre. He also said all citizens above the age of 18 years will get free vaccines from June 21, and asserted that vaccine supply would be increased significantly in the country in the coming days.

Besides the requests from states, slower vaccination pace in several states also prompted the Centre’s intervention, government sources said.

State vaccinations have picked up a bit in June, rising from 28 lakh doses on May 31 to 33 lakhs on June 2, they said. It rose to 33.5 lakh doses by June 5.

Vaccine coverage has become the most significant issue amid the second wave of the pandemic as states have started to reopen cautiously amid receding cases and fears of a third wave.