No vaccine shortage in Maharashtra, says Centre

A health worker gets a booster dose at the BYL Nair Hospital on Friday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The Union government has denied reports that Maharashtra faces Covid-19 vaccines shortage and the state government is unable to increase the pace of vaccination. "Such reports are ill informed and incorrect. It is clarified that as per the reports available today [January 14], Maharashtra has over 24 lakh unutilised doses of Covaxin with it. An additional 6.35 lakh doses have been received today," said a release issued by the Public Information Bureau (PIB) on Friday.

The clarification comes in the wake of reports that appeared in the media, quoting some ministers who attended a review meeting held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Maharashtra has accelerated its vaccination drive amidst the third Covid-19 wave and also stepped up the administering precautionary (booster) doses. The state and Centre have locked horns over the availability of vaccines in the past, especially last year. The MVA and BJP have been in a slugfest over the alleged shortage.

The PIB said, "As per their [Maharashtra government's] weekly consumption data available on Co-WIN, the average consumption by Maharashtra for Covaxin to cover the eligible beneficiaries for 15-17 years and for the precaution dose is almost 2.94 lakh doses per day. Therefore, the state has adequate vaccine doses for about 10 days to cover the eligible beneficiaries with Covaxin."

It further added that for Covishield, the state has 1.24 crore unutilised and balance doses available as on date. "With average consumption of 3.57 lakhs per day, this will sustain for more than 30 days for the beneficiaries to be vaccinated using the vaccine," it stated. "Hence, the media reports are not factually correct and do not reflect the correct picture of the available stock in Maharashtra," the PIB said.

State health minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday had said that Maharashtra was facing a shortage of Covaxin and Covishield. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Tope had said, "The vaccination drive for teenagers is on and precaution doses are being given to senior citizens, frontline and healthcare workers. Due to this, we are facing a shortage of Covaxin and Covishield. We have demanded additional 50 lakh Covishield doses and 40 lakh Covaxin doses from the Central government."