Vax drive for 18-44 age group begins in 27 districts in Maharashtra

Maharashtra government on Saturday kicked off its vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group on a limited scale due to a shortage of vaccine

Maharashtra government on Saturday kicked off its vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group on a limited scale due to a shortage of vaccine. It was a symbolic start as it coincided with the formation of the state in 1960 on May 1, which is observed as Maharashtra Day. The vaccination drive was launched in 27 districts across the state. Rest nine districts will start from Sunday.

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The state vaccinated a total of 11,492 beneficiaries till 6pm at 132 centres, officials said. All vaccination centres were run by the state government or municipal bodies and vaccination were free.

In Mumbai, 1,004 doses were administered at five vaccination centres.

The nine districts where the drive could not be started are — Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sundhudurg, Osmanabad, Akola, Washim, Wardha, Chandrapur and Gondia.

The state government has planned to cover seven days with over 300,000 doses. It has directed district administrations to open a maximum of five centres and vaccinate a limited number of beneficiaries daily so that a week can be covered and the next stock can be arranged by that time to continue the drive.

The drive was started after the Serum Institute of India (SII) provided a stock of 300,000 Covishield vaccine doses on Friday. The state is looking to get more stock from SII as it has assured to provide a stock of around 1.4 million doses this month. Similarly, Bharat Biotech has assured to supply 400,000 doses of Covaxin for May, officials said.

Expanding the nationwide drive, the Centre threw open vaccination for all adults from May 1, asking the states to inoculate the 18-44 age group by procuring doses from the open market.

Around 60 million population of Maharashtra comes under the age group of 18-44 that will require 120 million doses to get them immunized from the virus. The state has already declared to provide free doses of the vaccine for all adults up to 44 years of age at government-run centres. It will cost the state exchequer ₹6,500 crore. The decision was taken in the state cabinet meeting held on Wednesday.

On Friday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced starting the drive from May 1. He was keen on launching it considering the foundation of the state.

“We had issued a purchase order for 300,000 doses for Covishield to SII against which the stock was received on Friday. It was distributed among all the districts to launch the drive. The firm has provided the stock for ₹300 per dose and the state has spent ₹9 crore for it,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said that they have received around 300,000 doses with the help of which the drive was started at limited centres across all the districts of the state. “We have directed the district administration to ensure the stock will last for seven days. To ensure this, we have divided all the 36 districts into three categories based on their population — major, medium and small. The districts coming under the major category were given 20,000 doses, medium — 7,500 doses and the districts that came under the small category were provided stock of 5,000 doses. The local administration has been asked to open a maximum of five centres where the drive should be conducted,” he said.

However, the state is not aware when they are going to get another stock of doses either by SII or Bharat Biotech. “We have yet to receive any communication either from SII or Bharat Biotech on when they are going to send the next stock,” the official said.

On Friday, Tope has said SII has informed them that they can provide 1,400,000 -1,500,000 doses in May whereas Bharat Biotech has assured to provide between 400,000 and 450,000 doses in the next month. “Together, we are expecting to get around 1.8 million doses in May based on which the state can start the drive at limited centres in each district,” the health minister said.

On Saturday, the health minister also said that their discussion with other manufacturers is also going on. “The stock of Sputnik doses arrived in the country and we are in talks with them for supply. We are also exploring options for importing other vaccines such as Johnson and Johnson and Zydus Cadila,” he apprised.

Meanwhile, people reached vaccination centres in large numbers to get vaccinated which led to crowding at many places across the state including Mumbai. At Ratnagiri, people gathered outside the vaccination centre early morning at 5, only to return without being vaccinated as the drive could not be started due to technical reasons, the officials said.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said that the chief minister has spoken with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about importing the vaccine. “We are not dependent only on Covishield and have booked the stock with Covaxin. We also want to import Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer. CM Thackeray has spoken with the PM and is waiting for his approval. If the Centre allows us to import then things will become smooth,” Pawar told reporters in Pune.

He also criticized the Centre for importing vaccine doses to many countries saying that the country may have not been facing a shortage of Covid vaccine if it was not exported to other countries. “There was no need to send the vaccine doses manufactured in the country in the beginning. If that stock of vaccine doses was provided to the people in the country then we may have avoided the shortage of vaccine doses the entire country is reeling with at present,” he slammed.

Of the total 11,942 beneficiaries, maximum 1,316 beneficiaries were inoculated in Pune, while 1,004 people were immunised in Mumbai. Parbhani too vaccinated 846 beneficiaries, stated a release issued by the state health department.

Meanwhile, vaccination for 45 years and above could not be held across the state for the second day as the state is yet to get supply of vaccine doses from the Centre. In a release issued by the ministry of health and family welfare informed on Saturday that they have allocated around 2,327,510 doses for the first fortnight of this month.

“We have received the allocation letter from the Centre but don’t know when we are going to receive the stock, said a senior official privy to the development.

“No centre across the state has the stock and thus the drive could not be conducted on Saturday. We are waiting for the supply and will resume the drive in no time,” Tope told HT.