Maharashtra to get 20 million Covid vaccine doses in Nov despite fall in demand

The Maharashtra government is likely to get more than 20 million Covid-19 doses from the Centre for the vaccination drive despite the lowering demand

The Maharashtra government is likely to get more than 20 million Covid-19 doses from the Centre for the vaccination drive despite the lowering demand. The vaccine supply has been steady and its demand has gone down drastically from the past one month, mainly owing to two factors: the mandatory 84-day gap between two doses and the declining Covid-19 cases, thereby decreasing the need for the vaccine among beneficiaries. The state has about 7 million doses pending to be administered from the October stock.

Until October 31, Maharashtra has administered 98.17 million Covid vaccine doses, of which a majority – 14.67 million doses – had been supplied to Mumbai, followed by Pune (12.10 million) and Thane (8.23 million). (HT FILE)

Dr Sachin Desai, state immunisation officer, said, “We are likely to get about 20 million doses of the vaccines this month and we have about 7 million already pending from the October stock. Last month, too, we had received over 20 million doses. As of now, the availability of vaccines is not at all the problem. We are supplying as much as vaccine that are being demanded by the districts. We are conducting massive information, education and communication (IEC) programmes to educate people the need to be fully vaccinated instead of just taking one dose. Even smaller districts are getting a smooth supply of the vaccine because we have distributed the stock to regional centres to decentralise the process.”

Until October 31, the state has administered 98.17 million doses, of which a majority – 14.67 million doses – had been supplied to Mumbai, followed by Pune (12.10 million) and Thane (8.23 million). Maharashtra has been administering the highest number of doses among all the states in the country.