State Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday meet his Union counterpart Harsh Vardhan and Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in New Delhi seeking 20 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin every week for Maharashtra (File) State Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday meet his Union counterpart Harsh Vardhan and Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in New Delhi seeking 20 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin every week for Maharashtra.
The state requires 2.2 crore vaccine doses to vaccinate an estimated pool of 1.77 crore people. This pool includes senior citizens, people with comorbidities above 45 years of age and the remaining healthcare and frontline workers.
Tope told the Centre that the state needs to speed up its vaccination in order to cap rising cases. “We plan to vaccinate at least three lakh people a day,” he said.
Maharashtra plans to vaccinate the entire high-risk population of 1.77 crore by May, and finish administering second doses by June.
Tope further asked the Centre to fast-track approval of 158 hospitals and medical colleges to function as vaccination centres.
Maharashtra has given the Centre a list of 367 hospitals, including private units, that could serve as vaccine centres.
Of them, 209 have been approved so far. The minister also suggested that smaller 50-bed hospitals be allowed to operate as vaccination centres.