Maharashtra facing shortage of vaccine stock, many centres shut: Rajesh Tope

Tope urged the Centre to prioritise Maharashtra and, if required, to delay stock supplies to other states as it is the most affected state in the country

Maharashtra is facing shortage of Covid-19 vaccine stock and has had to shut down several vaccination centres across the state. It has already requested the Centre to provide adequate stock as it has set a target of inoculating 600,000 beneficiaries a day, said Rajesh Tope, state health minister of Wednesday.

A health worker in PPE testing samples taken for Covid-19 detection. (HT PHOTO)

Tope urged the Centre to prioritise Maharashtra and, if required, to delay stock supplies to other states as it is the most affected state in the country.

Maharashtra tops the chart in vaccinating the most beneficiaries across the country. Currently, it is vaccinating 450,000 beneficiaries a day and may touch the 500,000 mark, provided it gets adequate stock from the Centre, the health minister said.

The demand to the Centre was made in a video conference meeting chaired by Union minister of health and family welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan. Tope attended the meeting along with health ministers from six other states on Tuesday.

“Union minister Prakash Javadekar had asked us to double the vaccination numbers and had assured [the centre would] provide adequate stock. We accepted it as a challenge and increased the daily vaccination numbers to 450,000 from 300,000. We will achieve the target of inoculating 600,000 beneficiaries daily in no time. However, we have started facing shortage of vaccine stock and have to shut down many centres across the state as there is no stock left,” the health minister told reporters.

“Vaccination is the most effective measure to control the pandemic at present. We have urged the Centre to provide adequate stock and, if needed, they can delay supplies of the stock in other states as the daily cases have breached the 50,000 mark in Maharashtra,” Tope added.