Maharashtra Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said that the pace of COVID 19 vaccination is low after the vaccination is optional. He admitted that citizens are reluctant to get themselves fully vaccinated. ‘’ Nearly 98 lakh eligible persons in Maharashtra have not yet come forward to get the first COVID 19 vaccine dose. The government is making all efforts to increase the pace of vaccination,’’ said Tope who attended the virtual meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the pandemic crisis.

‘’PM asked the states to take into account variants of coronavirus that might emerge while defeating Omicron. The state government is fully prepared to tackle the emerging situation,’’ said Tope.

Tope said the PM did not speak about the imposition of lockdown. ‘’However, the state government has urged the Centre that there should be common criteria at the national level for the imposition of lockdown,’’ he noted. ‘’PM has asked states to avoid introduction of restrictions, if possible, in order to avoid economic and financial losses,’’ he added.

After strong clarification by the Centre that there is no shortage of vaccine doses in Maharashtra, Tope said the state has received 6.5 lakh Covaxin doses which will be distributed in the state. ‘’Vaccines are still needed and stocks will last for two to three days,’’ he claimed.

Tope said that the vaccination for children from the age group of 15-18 years in Mumbai has slowed down adding that only 12 per cent vaccination has been done in 10 days. ‘’However, 40 per cent of the children in the state have been vaccinated and if this trend continues, the vaccination will be completed in 15 days,’’ he observed.

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Maharashtra is facing shortage of Covaxin doses, says state Health Minister Rajesh Tope