Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Saturday stated that the Centre was neither permitting States to acquire vaccinations from companies on its own nor was it coming forward to supply the vaccines.

The Minister claimed that existing guidelines prevented Telangana from purchasing Covid-19 vaccines from domestic companies and that the Union Government would not even allow the state to buy them from international ones.

He said the Union administration was attempting to blame the States for their mistakes by pointing out shortcomings in the Centre's vaccine procurement policy. Harish Rao claimed that the Telangana government has paid Rs 100 crore in advance to various industries to acquire Covaxin and Covishield doses and that the Centre should allow States to acquire vaccinations from other nations.

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The Minister stated that because the Centre has mandated vaccine distribution to States, the companies making the vaccine in Telangana are unable to give adequate vaccine doses to the State. Demanding that the Centre liberalise vaccine procurement to assist States in completing immunization as quickly as possible, he stated that the States must prioritize vaccine procurement.

He said the State government has chosen to vaccinate 8.50 lakh people from high-risk categories in 13 municipal corporations and 129 municipalities throughout the state as part of their attempts to stop the virus from spreading. Vendors of fruits and vegetables, entrepreneurs in wine shops and bars, hotel servants, persons working at cemeteries, and others are among the high-risk categories.

The Finance Minister stated that the Telangana administration is fully prepared to combat the Coronavirus and that they will battle the third wave more effectively.