5,000 COVID-19 vaccines for 7 days: Pune Mayor says it's difficult to vaccinate 18 to 44 yrs aged people with such supply

Though India on May 1 kicked off the third phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive, which also inclued inoculation of 18 years and above, many states and cities have not began vaccination of the new age group due to shortage of vaccination doses. Facing an accute shortage of the vaccine does, Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said that the Maharashtra Government has just allotted 5,000 vaccine doses for seven days.

He said, "We've more than 20 lakh people from 18 to 44 yrs so it's very difficult for us to manage with this supply of vaccines."

Meanwhile, Covid-19 vaccination centres in Pune will remain closed for the next two days due to the shortage of vaccines against the coronavirus disease, news agency ANI reported citing Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. "We had planned a big event for today but we received only 3 lakh doses. Out of that 20,000 have been given to Pune district. Today, we don't have vaccines to inoculate people aged 45 years and above," said Pawar who is also the guardian minister of Pune.

On the other hand, granting no relaxation in the stringent restrictions, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Friday decided to extend the existing rules till May 15 to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the city.

The state government on Wednesday had decided to continue with the existing stringent curbs across the state to check the spread of Covid-19 that has badly affected various districts in the state.