The vaccine stocks in Maharashtra have reached critical level, and it won’t last more than a couple of days. The Centre needs to immediately release at least 40 lakh vaccines so that it can take care of vaccination for at least one week, said State Health Minister, Rajesh Tope on Thursday afternoon.
Addressing his second press conference in 24 hours, Tope said that latest release order of vaccines shows that Maharashtra will get 7.5 lakh, Madhya Pradesh will get 40 lakh, Gujarat will get 30 lakh and Haryana will get 24 lakh vaccines. These numbers are self-explanatory, Maharashtra is being discriminated, he said.
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Tope said that he has been in constant touch with Union Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan, for getting the stocks. The State needs 40 lakh vaccines per week so that the monthly target of vaccinating 1.6 crore people can be achieved.
The real picture of vaccine distribution is much different. Maharashtra’s population is 12 crore, while Gujarat’s population is 6 crore. But Gujarat has higher supply of vaccines than Maharashtra, he said.
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He added that the health is a state subject, but Maharashtra Government is not intervening in the matter of vaccine procurement and distribution. As the Central Government has clearly said that vaccine production, supply and distribution needs to be fully under its control.