A shortage in COVID-19 vaccines has been reported by several hospitals (private) in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh even as the coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country.

Owing to this shortage, a few private hospitals in Ghaziabad have not been carrying out vaccinations since April 5.

This is, however, in complete contrast to the Centre's claim as it has continued to claim that there is no shortage of vaccines against COVID-19.

"Many hospitals in Ghaziabad do not have clarity on when the next stock will arrive and have pasted notices at their entrance, saying they have run out of vaccine doses," reported www.ndtv.com.

"Hospitals have asked people to call them to check before they reach there," the report added.

The news about the shortage of vaccines in Ghaziabad comes at a time when Maharashtra has also been reporting the shortage of vaccines in several parts, with some parts pausing inoculations.

"We don't have vaccine stock since Monday. We could vaccinate only 50 people on Monday instead of the usual 200," reported NDTV quoting Dr Alok Gupta, director of Lyf Hospital in Ghaziabad's Indirapuram.

"We have stopped vaccinations since then. There's no clarity on when the next stock will come," he added.

"We are willing to vaccinate but no stock is being sent from the government. People with pre-booked slots are turning up for vaccination and are arguing with us after being told about the unavailability (of vaccines)," he further said.

Uttar Pradesh is among the eight states that account for 60 per cent of the total vaccine doses given so far in the country. The state logged 6,002 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, pushing its total caseload to over 6.45 lakh.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on April 7 denied any vaccine shortage in the country and hit out at demands by states like Maharashtra and Delhi for opening up vaccinations to more adults.