Maharashtra vaccinates record 1.191 million beneficiaries in a day: Health dept

“The administration of 1,191,921 doses on Saturday is the figure recorded till 7 pm. The vaccination drive continues in several parts till late night. The final figure will be out tomorrow,” Dr Pradeep Vyas, the additional chief secretary of the public health department said.

Maharashtra on Saturday set a record of administering the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to 1,191,921 eligible beneficiaries, a health department official told news agency PTI. With this, the cumulative coverage in the state has climbed to 62.7 million. Before this record, authorities had administered over 1.104 million vaccine doses to beneficiaries in a single day on August 21.

A total of 17.1 million beneficiaries are fully vaccinated, i.e given both doses. (Bloomberg)

“The administration of 1,191,921 doses on Saturday is the figure recorded till 7 pm. The vaccination drive continues in several parts till late night. The final figure will be out tomorrow,” Dr Pradeep Vyas, the additional chief secretary of the public health department said.

The health department, meanwhile, said that Maharashtra is second in the country with regard to total vaccines administered, but it is still on the top in terms of the number of beneficiaries who have taken both the doses. A total of 17.1 million beneficiaries are fully vaccinated, i.e given both doses.

Being one of the worst-hit states from the Covid-19 pandemic, Maharashtra, in recent months, has reported a shortage of vaccines which has led to suspension of vaccination drives in districts and cities for several days. The vaccination rate has also been affected due to the suspension of these drives. Previously, the Maha-Vikas Aghadi government had urged the Centre to supply 30 million doses per month to vaccinate beneficiaries at the earliest

Amid the increased spread of the Delta variant in Maharashtra and fears of the upcoming third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts have pointed out that a robust vaccination program is crucial. Dr Rahul Pandit, director of critical care, Fortis Hospital, and member of state’s Covid-19 task force, told Hindustan Times in August that the available vaccines in the country “have shown good response to the predominant variant, which is the Delta variant”, adding it is important that people take both shots of the vaccine for better immunity.

Maharashtra has so far recorded 6,482,117 cases, 137,707 deaths and 6,288,851 recoveries due to Covid-19. On Saturday, 4,130 new infections were recorded while 2,506 patients recovered and 64 succumbed to the viral disease. The active cases in the state have climbed to 52,025 on Saturday from 50,466 on Friday.