The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to keep political interference away from the Covid-19 inoculation drive after it realised that such things had made the situation critical leading to huge rush at vaccination centres and made people angry over the entire process.

State chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi recently sent an instruction to district magistrates, asking them to ensure that no political interference was entertained while carrying out the vaccination drive.

“We have received some complaints from South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas that some political leaders were trying to interfere in the vaccination programme by asking officials to give priority to certain sections of people. It might help them in gathering votes, but it is hurting the entire process,” said a senior government official.

So far, 4.5 crore doses have been administered. The state would require 14 crore doses to cover 7 crore eligible people.