Maha seeks 3 cr vax jabs a mth from Centre to expedite vaccination drive
CM and Health Minister had recently said state can daily vaccinate up to 15L people if Centre hikes supply
The Maharashtra government has placed a fresh demand before the Centre for the supply of 3 crore doses a month to increase the pace of vaccination.
In the recent meeting chaired by the Union Public Health Secretary, the state government represented by the Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte and Public Health Department Additional Chief Secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas pointed out that there has been no response from the Centre yet despite repeated appeals.
The state is vaccinating 8 to 11 lakh people daily for the last few days in 3,000 to 6,000 sessions but Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope have said the state can daily vaccinate up to 15 lakh people provided Centre increases the supply of Covid vaccine doses.
Cumulatively, the state as of today has administered 6,00,73,500 doses of which 4,37,91,110 are first doses and 1,62,82,390 are second doses.
“It was also brought to the notice that Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have been provided additional doses while Maharashtra’s demand has not been met. The government’s fresh demand came days after the Centre raised alarm over the increase in Covid-19 cases in Kerala and Maharashtra,’’ said a senior public health department officer. He added that the government was focusing on testing, tracing, treating and vaccination.
The state government’s demand came at a time when the progressive Covid- 19 cases surged to 64,73,674 while there are 50,607 active cases and 137,551 deaths. However, the fatality rate is higher at 2.12 per cent. Of the 36 districts, 11 districts have reported high growth in Covid19 patients while 9 districts have high positivity rate.
The state fully vaccinated 1.62 which is the highest number of fully vaccinated in the state, said Dr Vyas.