Maharashtra govt temporarily halts COVID-19 vaccination for 18-44 age group amid shortage

In a further setback to the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the Maharashtra government temporarily halted the inoculation for the 18-44 age group on Tuesday. This decision was taken owing to a dearth of vaccines even as the number of people aged above 45 waiting for their second dose is increasing. Addressing the media, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope stated that the stock of nearly 3 lakh doses directly procured by the state government for the 18-44 age group will be diverted to administer the second dose to individuals falling in the above 45 years category.

According to him, the state government had no other option left after Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan reportedly gave the same suggestion. On this occasion, he requested the Centre to approve other vaccines apart from Sputnik V and permit the states to float a global tender so that they can directly purchase vaccines from abroad. Moreover, Tope added that a decision on the extension of the lockdown will be taken in the Cabinet meeting on May 12. A total of 1,50,20,888 persons have been inoculated in Maharashtra, 35,75,595 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too. 

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope remarked, "The responsibility of the second dose falls on the Centre. I personally held a detailed discussion with Dr. Harsh Vardhan yesterday night. But he told me that the Centre does not have enough stock. That's why even he said that there is no other alternative. He said that you can use a portion of the doses procured for the 18-45 age group for the vaccination of people aged above 45. We took the decision after talking to the CM. The Maharashtra government has directed all centres to divert approximately three lakh doses available for the 18-44 age group for those aged above 45 who are waiting for their second dose."

COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra

On Monday, May 10, Maharashtra recorded 37,236 novel coronavirus cases taking the State's COVID-19 tally to 51,38,973. At present, there are 5,90,818 active cases in the State. With 61,607 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 44,69,425. In a heartening development, Mumbai too recorded only 1794 new cases. 

549 deaths including 74 from Mumbai, 51 from Latur, 42 from Beed, 29 from Nanded, 28 from Ahmednagar, 26 from Kolhapur and 22 from Solapur were reported on Monday. Out of the total deaths reported in the day, 302 occurred in the last 48 hours, 113 in the last week, and 134 from the period before. Until now, a total of 76,398 persons in the state have died owing to COVID-19. 

So far, 2,96,31,127 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. While 36,70,320 persons are under home quarantine, 26,664 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres. The COVID-19 positivity rate, recovery rate, and fatality rate in Maharashtra stand at 17.34 per cent, 86.97 per cent and 1.49 per cent respectively.