Change in Covid-19 vaccine protocol a breather for Maharashtra government

After the Union government extended the period between the two doses of Covishield from six to eight weeks to 12-16 weeks, the state health department said that people should not rush to vaccination centres before 84 days from their first shot

After the Union government extended the period between the two doses of Covishield from six to eight weeks to 12-16 weeks, the state health department said that people should not rush to vaccination centres before 84 days from their first shot. The change in the protocol by the Centre has given some breather to the state government which had turned its focus to complete the second dose of nearly 1.6 million people across the state.

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The state government now has stock that would last for around three days, officials said. With the change in protocol, a chunk of the Covishield doses that were kept to give the second jab to people will now be also used for the first doses. There is no change in protocol for the second dose of Covaxin.

State immunization officer DN Patil said that the health department has notified all vaccination centres about the change. However, people will not be turned back from the centre if they wish to take the shot after six weeks, Patil said. “We have issued an advisory to all districts to give the second dose after 84 days, per the Centre’s guidelines. But people will not be stopped to take vaccine after six weeks, unless the change is made in the Co-WIN app, restricting them to schedule booking,” Patil said.

According to Patil, the state would now have around 500,000 to 600,000 Covishield doses and about 100,000 Covaxin doses. “The stock that is at the centres now is expected to last us about two to three days. We are not expecting any fresh stock before next Monday or Tuesday. The doses that were earlier kept for second doses are being used for first doses after the change in protocol,” Patil said.

The state is inching closer to the 20-million mark in vaccination, as it administered 192,438 doses. As of Saturday, the state has administered 19,911,343 doses, of which 4,206,220 are second doses. The state is expected to surpass the landmark on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Saturday went past a grim landmark of 80,000 deaths due to Covid-19 as it added 960 fatalities, taking the death toll to 80,512. The state continued to see fewer cases on Saturday, while the positivity rate also dropped. Maharashtra added 34,848 fresh Covid-19 cases to its tally with a positivity rate of 14.68%. The active cases came under 500,000 to reach 494,032, while the total tally rose to 5,344,063.

Mumbai reported 1,450 fresh cases, taking its tally to 686,295. The active cases in the city declined to 34,083.

The state has recorded nearly 29,000 deaths between February 15 and May 15. The second wave of the Covid-19 has been particularly deadly for the state as it saw 28,960 fatalities in the last three months, averaging 9,650 deaths every month. Between the outbreak in Maharashtra in March 2020 and February 15, 2021, the state had recorded 51,552 deaths—an average of around 4,685 deaths a month.

Though the overall cases are declining in the state, some districts continue to report a high number of cases. The state health department has identified 15 districts including Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, Beed, Buldhana, Yavatmal, and Chandrapur, where the surge continues. Officials said that they have ramped up the testing drive along with increasing the hospital beds.