Javadekar counters Maharashtra health min on request for more vaccines; '56% still unused'

After Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday urged the Centre to provide 2.2 crore vaccine doses with the supply of 20 lakh doses each week, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday slammed the statement. Taking to Twitter, Prakash Javadekar said that the Maharashtra government so far has used only 23 lakh vaccines out of the total 54 lakh vaccines sent to the state till March 12. 

Stating that 56 per cent of the COVID-19 vaccines still remain unused, the Union Minister accused the Maharashtra government of mismanagement of pandemic and poor administration of the vaccine. 

Maharashtra govt demands more COVID-19 vaccine doses

While Maharashtra recorded a maximum number of vaccinations at 2.67 lakh on March 15, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday urged the Centre to provide 2.2 crore vaccine doses with supply at 20 lakh each week. Tope, who is currently in New Delhi, had placed this demand before Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

“The target is to vaccinate 1.77 crore people and towards that end, efforts have been made to ensure that healthcare workers, frontline workers and priority groups get the first and second doses by May and June respectively. Hence, there is a need for 2.2 crore doses with the supply fixed at 20 lakh doses each week,” Tope said.

The state Health Department has made a demand for setting up Covid vaccination centres in 367 private and government hospitals. Permission has been given for setting up vaccination centres at 209 hospitals, read an official statement issued by the state Health Department on Tuesday.

COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra

As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, Maharashtra so far has recorded over 23,29,464 positive cases, out fo which, 21,44,743 have successfully recovered, while 52,909 have died. According to the latest reports shared by MoHFW, in the past 24 hours,  15,051 fresh cases, 10,671 recoveries and 48 deaths have been reported. As of now, the total number of active cases in the state is 4,332.