SEVERAL CENTRES STOP VACCINATION AFTER DOSAGE SHORTAGE
India is currently witnessing the 2nd wave of Covid and logged over 120K cases on Wednesday
MUMBAI/RANCHI: As many as 25 vaccination centres in Mumbai were among those closed in Maharashtra -- the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in India -- on Thursday due to shortage of vaccines doses even as mayor Kishori Pednekar warned the inoculation drive in the country’s financial capital was likely to come to a halt from Friday if the stocks are not replenished.
Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said the state has only two days of Covid-19 vaccine stock. “Vaccination has stopped in districts such as Satara, Sangli and Panvel and others. We have two more days of stock,” he said.
In Delhi, Union minister Prakash Javadekar alleged that 500,000 doses were wasted in Maharashtra due to a lack of planning by the state government. He added that 2.3 million doses of the vaccines are available with the Maharashtra government “which is a stock for five to six days”.
In Ranchi, Jharkhand health minister Banna Gupta said the state is also facing a shortage and is only left with stock for about two days. Gupta’s Odisha counterpart, Naba Kishore Das, said his state, too, has a stock of vaccine only for the next two days.
NEW DELHI : The issue of vaccine shortage has resulted in a war of words between the Centre and the states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
India is currently witnessing the second wave of Covid-19 and reported more than 120,000 new infections on Wednesday, the highest single-day spike ever since the beginning of the pandemic.
Leading the vaccine shortage war is Maharashtra, where health minister Rajesh Tope issued a dire warning on Wednesday, saying supplies would run out in three days unless replenished.
Satara, Sangli, Panvel have stopped vaccination today while Buldhana has only today’s (Thursday) vaccine stock left, Tope said. On Thursday, Tope said that the Centre is sending 17 lakh doses, but this number is also less as Maharashtra needs 40 lakh doses to meet its daily target.
But the Centre accused the Maharashtra government of wasting the doses.
“Maharashtra has 23 lakh doses, which is supply for five days. Every state has stock for 3-4 days. It is the state’s responsibility to send it to various districts. Maharashtra has, in fact, wasted five lakh doses,” said Union minister Prakash Javadekar. Tope added that according to the latest release order of vaccines by the Centre, Maharashtra was only given 7.5 lakh doses. While Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana have been given far more vaccines than Maharashtra, he claimed.