By Express News Service
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has decided to prioritise vaccination in favour of those aged above 45 years. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that many persons above 45 years of age are waiting for their second dose.
“The state government has decided to give a second dose out of the doses purchased for vaccinating 18 to 45-year-olds. The Centre has not provided adequate vaccines for the second doses meant for above 45-year-old people. So, people from 18-45 may not get the vaccines on time,” Tope said.
He said 1.84 crore citizens in Maharashtra have so far been vaccinated. The citizens above 45 years of age are vaccinated for free under the National Immunization Programme of the Central government.
“The Union government is not fulfilling its responsibility of providing sufficient quantity of vaccine,” he added.
“There are currently 35,000 doses of Covaxin in the state stocks while there are five lakh people over the age of 45 who are awaiting the second dose. So, the present stock is not enough for a large number of citizens,” said Tope.
“We discussed the issue with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. As many as 2.75 lakh Covaxin doses purchased by the state government for the 18-45 group and the 35,000 doses will be used for those aged above 45 years. We have given instructions to all vaccination centres,” Tope said.
The Union government should grant approval to all the COVID-19 vaccines available in the global market, Tope said.
“It is a reasonable and necessary thing to do now,” the minister added.
He said the second dose of Covishield will be given to 16 lakh citizens.
“As the vaccine procured by the state government will have to be used for the Central government’s vaccination programme, discussions will be held with the state task force to defer immunization for the 18-44 group for a few days,” he said.
Further, the Centre should help the existing two vaccine-makers in the country — Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India — to enhance their production, Tope said.
The Maharashtra government has asked vaccination centres to use the vials provided for the 18-44 age group to inoculate the above 45 category, the minister said.
“We are going slow on the vaccination of 18-44 age group,” he said.
He said efforts were being made in the state for producing oxygen.
District collectors have been empowered to procure more than 300 PSA devices.
“The first experiment of producing oxygen through ethanol has been made by Dharashiv Sugar Factory at Osmanabad. This factory has started producing four metric tonnes of oxygen per day,” said Tope.
“I spoke with Union health minister Harsh Vardhan but he also expressed inability to make doses available,” Tope claimed.
“We need two crore vaccine doses every month so that we can inoculate the entire population of Maharashtra in the next six months, but there is no supplier who can make so many vials,” the health minister said.
On the government exploring the possibility of acquiring doses of Russian vaccine Sputnik, he said an offer letter was sent to the Russian Direct Investment Authority seeking informatiion about price and production capacity.
“There is no response from the company yet. There may be some intermediaries but there is no reason to trust them,” he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
