Maharashtra Covid vaccine shortage: Pune, Panvel stop drive, Centre dismisses claim

Maharashtra vaccine shortage: As Harsh Vardhan blames the state for its dismal Covid-19 management, Mumbai has claimed an impending crisis as mayor Kishori Pednekar said there were 1.76 lakh doses of Covishield till Tuesday afternoon.

Covid-19 vaccination took an unexpected turn as Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said Maharashtra has repeatedly failed to control the spread of the pandemic and now to divert attention from its failure, the government is complaining of vaccine shortage, which is a "baseless allegation". Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said the state has 14 lakh doses of vaccines which would last only three days. Panvel Municipal Corporation issued an official notice saying the drive is being halted for the time being because of unavailability of vaccines, news agency ANI reported.

A health worker checks a passenger's temperature and pulse at a railway station in Mumbai.(Reuters)

"Vaccination drive temporarily halted in all government and private inoculation centres in Panvel, due to the unavailability of Covid-19 vaccines. Centres will be reopened once vaccines are back in stock."

Here is all you need to know about the reality of vaccine shortage claims

> While the Centre says there can be no shortage of vaccination as the stock is monitored through Co-WIN, many vaccination centres in Maharashtra are being closed temporarily owing to vaccine shortage.

> Even Mumbai has claimed an impending crisis as mayor Kishori Pednekar said there were 1.76 lakh doses of Covishield till Tuesday afternoon.

> According to the Maharashtra government's claim, its vaccine stock will deplete by today or tomorrow.

> Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said the allegations of vaccine shortage is a tactic to divert attention from the failure of the state government.

> Maharashtra has increased the number of vaccine doses it is administering per day, which the government is citing as the reason behind the shortage of vaccines.

> But the health ministry on Wednesday claimed that its vaccination numbers are far from impressive. According to ministry data, Maharashtra has vaccinated just only 86 per cent of health workers with first dos and 41 per cent healthcare workers with the second dose. Among frontline workers, Maharashtra has vaccinated only 73% with first dose. As far as senior citizens are concerned, Maharashtra has vaccinated just 25 per cent.

> In a strongly worded statement, Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said, "The performance of Maharashtra government in terms of vaccinating healthcare workers and frontline workers is also not great. It is shocking to see how the state Government is putting Maharashtrians in danger by letting people escape institutional quarantine mandate for the sake of their personal Vasuli. Overall, as the state has lurched from one crisis to another, it seems as if the state leadership is happily sleeping at the wheels."

> Nationalist Congress Party MP Sule has claimed 109 vaccination centres in Pune district remained shut on Wednesday as they had no stock. "Several thousand people went back without being vaccinated because the vaccines stock was exhausted...Our momentum may be lost due to lack of stock," the MP tweeted.

> Following repeated appeals to the Centre by Maharashtra politicians, the Centre wrote a letter saying a total of 1,06,19,190 doses have been made available to the state and the total consumption, including wastage, is 90,53,523 doses.

> Union minister Prakash Javadekar said while Maharashtra has 7,43,280 vaccine doses in the pipeline, the state has 23 lakh doses available.