The coronavirus immunization drive may be stopped after a few days in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh due to the scarcity of Covid-19 vaccine doses. Both the state governments on Wednesday told the Centre that if additional doses are not released soon they might run out of vaccine within this week.
What did Maharashtra say about coronavirus vaccines?
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the state needs a stable supply of 40 lakh doses of Covid vaccines each week and currently the state has 14 lakh vaccine doses which will get over in 3 days. Cities like Mumbai have reported and raised concerns at the fast depleting stocks. The minister said that he had told Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan that due to lack of doses most vaccination centres have been shut down and that people are being sent back without vaccination. Mumbai Mayor, Kishori Pednekar said that there is a shortage in the city and Covid shots are about to get over.
Nellore, West Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh out of vaccine
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government has sent an emergency alert to the Centre over inadequate Covid-19 vaccine doses in the state. Andhra Pradesh top health officials on Wednesday said vaccines will be exhausted by Thursday. Nellore and West Godavari districts have run out of vaccine, the health officials said. The current consumption rate in Andhra Pradesh is 1.33 lakh doses per day, which they said, could go up to 3 lakh a day if there was enough supply but the state only has 3.7 lakh doses left. The state has requested the Centre to urgently release 1 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine to ensure immunization drive can continue uninterrupted.
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Both the states are badly hit in the second wave of Covid infections that saw India on Wednesday reporting 1.15 lakh cases in 24 hours. The Centre called the next four weeks are “very, very critical”.