Maharashtra administers over 10 million doses in July, so far

State health department officials said that steady stock supply from the Centre and greater awareness among the population has boosted their numbers

In another milestone, Maharashtra has administered over 10 million doses in this month so far — its highest number in a month. Earlier this month, the state achieved a feat of going past 40 million doses since the drive started on January 16. According to the state health department’s data, this month (till July 29), 10,643,344 doses have been administered.

A beneficiary being inoculated at Nair Hospital, on Friday. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

State health department officials said that steady stock supply from the Centre and greater awareness among the population has boosted their numbers. State immunisation officer, DN Patil said, “This is another milestone for us. We have administered over one crore (10 million) doses in a month for the first time.”

In June, the state had touched 9.86 million (9,864,317) doses. Maharashtra saw a 55.13% jump in vaccination numbers in June from the previous month due to the availability of doses from the Centre. In May, the state had administered 6.35 million (6,358,454) doses. However, the jump in the number of doses in July from the previous month is not high. July (till 29th) only saw a 7.89% increase in doses from June.

Senior state officials said that though the Centre is providing steady doses to the state, the numbers have to increase in proportion to the state’s population. The state has the infrastructure to administer one million jabs a day, said, officials. “We have demanded 30 million doses every month as we have the manpower and infrastructure to utilise that much stock. Such a proposal has also been passed last month in the state legislature. Our daily average is about 300,000 doses, which is slow, but it is due to low stock,” the official said requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, on Friday the state had administered 656,156 doses till 7pm, as per the Co-WIN portal data. Of the doses administered, 32,784,013 were first doses and 10,967,047 beneficiaries are fully vaccinated. In all, 43,751,060 doses have been administered till 7pm, as per the Co-WIN data.