As the nation is facing COVID-19 vaccine crunch, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday stated that the vaccination drive for the beneficiaries between 18-44 will get impacted further as the state is planning to use the allotted doses for the administration of the second dose of 45+ beneficiaries.
Talking to media about the paucity of vaccines in the state, Tope said, "The central government has decided to vaccinate people between the age of 18 and 44 along with beneficiaries above 45 years of age. However, there are currently just 35,000 doses of Covaxin available in the state. We need 5 lakhs Covaxin doses for the 2nd dose of 45 plus. Thus, the Covaxin purchased by the state government (2 lakh 75 thousand) for the age group of 18 to 44 years and dose of 35,000 from the centre will be used for the second dose for citizens above 45 years of age."
He also said that the administration has been ordered to slow down the pace of vaccination for the 18-44 age group.
Speaking further, Tope informed that the Centre does not have the vaccine and thus the state has to use the vaccine from whatever it has purchased.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive, Maharashtra on May 11 crossed the 1.82 crore mark.
As per the data released by the health ministry, Maharashtra, as of 7 am on May 11, inoculated 1,82,64,212 people.
According to data released by the government, the state has administered the second dose of vaccine to 34,87,664 people and the first dose to 1,47,76,548 people.
Maharashtra tops the states with a total of 1,82,64,212 inoculations followed by Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh with 1,42,88,032, 1,41,60,135 and 1,37,60,662 doses respectively.
Maharashtra is continuing to see a decline in its daily COVID-19 numbers. According to the Union Health Ministry, the state is showing early signs of plateauing. On Monday, the state recorded 37,236 new cases, taking the number of active cases to 5,90,818. This is the lowest daily caseload since March 27. Besides, 549 COVID-19 fatalities were registered in the day, taking the death toll to 76,398.
61,607 patients were discharged in the day, taking the tally to 44,69,425. The recovery rate in the state stands at 86.97%. The case fatality rate in the state is 1.49%.
