Amid a fierce controversy between the MVA government and the Centre over the the discrimination in the distribution of vaccines to the State, Maharashtra on Sunday became the first State in the country to administer one crore doses to the Covid-19 patients.
“We have crossed one crore doses today. Till today noon, we have administered 1,00,38,42 doses,” principal secretary (health) Dr Pradeep Vyas said
Of one crore-odd vaccine doses, around 90 lakh people have been given the first dose, while the rest 10 lakh have received the two doses.
Maharashtra has worked out a target of vaccinating 6 lakh people per month, 40 lakh a week – that comes to around 1.6 crore a month. However, it is facing a shortage of vaccines – and more than 30 per cent centres have run out of stock.
It may be recalled that State Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said on Thursday that given the gravity of the Covid-19 situation, Maharashtra would 7.5 lakh doses per week suffice for Maharashtra. “We need at least 40 lakh doses per week. In other words, we need at least 1.60 crore doses in a month. It is only then, we will be able to implement the vaccination programme properly,” the state health minister had said.