"Need 20 Lakh Vaccine Doses For Frontline Workers": Mamata Banerjee To PM

Mamata Banerjee said Bengal needs 10 crore vaccines. "We were supposed to get 24 lakh this month. We received 13 lakh. Remdesivir is also not available," she added.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking vaccines urgently for her state, especially frontline workers working for the state and Central government as well as the Central government employees who are in essential services. Citing the people working in airports, railway and ports, banks and the postal department, she wrote, "Unfortunately, the Central government policies keep no room to accommodate their needs". "In Bengal, while we have taken steps to complete vaccination of a large section of frontline and electorally engaged employees across several sectors, we still need minimally 20 lakh doses to cover all the employees,"she wrote. "We would request you to kindly make available adequate number of vaccines to all the State Governments so that they are able to cover all their employees without any further delay," she added. At a press conference earlier today, the Chief Minister had said that Bengal needs 10 crore vaccines.  "We were supposed to get 24 lakh this month. We received 13 lakh. Remdesivir is also not available," she added.Initially, Bengal had asked for 3 crore vaccine doses, the Chief Minister said. "Now we want 8.6 crore but no one (other states) is getting," she said.