COVID-19 vaccine doses in Maharashtra to last only 3 days: Rajesh Tope

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said the state has 14 lakh doses of COVID19 vaccine which would last only three days and many inoculation centres were being closed due to the shortage of the vaccineTalking to reporters here Tope said people coming to such centres for taking jabs were being sent back as there was no supply of vaccine dosesFourteen lakh doses are available now which would last three days We need 40 lakh vaccine doses every week We can then administer six lakh doses every day in a week The doses we are getting are not enough he saidTope said the state government was earlier vaccinating four lakh people in a dayWe accepted the challenge from the Centre to expedite the vaccination drive to six lakh per day Now we were vaccinating nearly 5 lakh people in a day he saidThe minister urged the Centre to give priority to Maharashtra since the coronavirus cases were more in the state and the overall death toll was over 50000Most of those infected now are in the age group of 25 to 40 years he saidThere is an urgent need to control the viral infection by increasing the immunity level of people and creating antibodies Tope saidHe also urged the National Centre for Disease Control to inform the states if the present infection spread is because of a new mutant strain of the virusIf that is the case please tell us what is the course of medication he saidEarlier in the day state principle secretary health Pradeep Vyas told PTI that several districts in Maharashtra will run out of the COVID19 vaccine stock today or tomorrow and the Centre has been informed about itMaharashtra can easily administer five lakh vaccine doses in a day if there is a clarity on schedule and availability the official saidTope said about 1200 metric tonne oxygen is being manufactured in the state every day and the daily consumption is 700 metric tonne of which 80 per cent is for medical useThe minister said he has urged the Centre to direct neighbouring states to facilitate oxygen suppply to MaharashtraTope also asked all private doctors not to prescribe Remdesivir injections irrationally to hike the bills of COVID19 patients and that they should also follow the central governments guidelines on the use of the medicineHe said Maharashtra has followed the 3T testing tracing and treatment principles strictly and taken all steps to ensure COVIDappropriate behaviour by imposing prohibitory orders and night curfew to stop crowdingNearly 82 lakh people have been vaccinated so far in Maharashtra since the rollout of the inoculation driveAn official statement on Tuesday said Maharashtra had received 106 crore doses of the COVID19 vaccine out of which 88 lakh doses have been used while the wastage stood at three per centIt said the state government will vigorously pursue its demand for more stock of vaccine doses considering the rapid rise in the COVID19 cases and expansion of the vaccination driveChief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow people above 25 years to receive COVID19 shots which he said will protect young people from the rapid spread of the viral infection at a time when they are stepping outside to workIn a letter to the PM Thackeray also demanded that Maharashtra be provided 15 crore additional doses of vaccines which will enable the state government to complete within three weeks the vaccination of beneficiaries above 45 years of age in six districts including MumbaiThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever