Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday hit out at the Centre after the Union Health Ministry issued, an order to the states and asked them to refrain from sharing information on data of vaccine stock in the public domain.
In a tweet, AAP said, "π¦ππ’ππππ‘π "Data on vaccine stocks should not be shared without our consent"- Union Health Ministry People have the right to know how many vaccines have been received from the Centre. Instead of hiding data, Modi Govt should focus on ensuring adequate supply!"
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia too slammed the central government and said that they should focus on ensuring an adequate supply of vaccines to all states instead of preventing them from sharing information regarding the remaining stocks.
His remarks came a day after the Centre wrote to states and union territories advising them not to share the data of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system on vaccine stocks and the temperature of vaccine storage in the public domain, saying it is "sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement".
In a tweet, Sisodia said, "Am amazed at the order of Central Govt that prevents states from sharing information regarding vaccine stocks! The Central Govt needs to focus on ensuring adequate supply of vaccine to all, rather than hiding the true position of vaccine availability from the public." The Delhi government shares information on vaccine stocks and doses administered every day through a vaccination bulletin.
The eVIN system is used to track the vaccine stock status and the temperature at all levels of vaccine storage, from national to sub-district level.
The letter to the states and UTs stated that the data on vaccine stocks and temperature of the vaccine storage is owned by the health ministry and cannot be shared without consent. As per a report by TOI, the letter is being termed as 'gag order' by public health activists.
In its letter, the Union health ministry said it was overwhelming to see that all states are using the system to update the stock and transactions of Covid vaccines on a daily basis.
"In this regard, please be advised that data and analytics generated by eVIN for inventory and temperature is owned by the Ministry of Health and not to be shared with any other organisation, partner agency, media agency, online and offline public forums without the consent of the ministry," the letter read.
Earlier on Thursday, the government said its advice to states and union territories to obtain permission before sharing eVIN data on vaccine stocks and temperature of storage was aimed at preventing any misuse of this information by various agencies for commercial purposes.
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