MUMBAI: Amid vaccine shortage, the state on Thursday reached a milestone: administering 3.57 crore doses, accounting for almost 10% of the 36.5 crore shots given across the country.
Now, almost a quarter of the eligible adult population in Maharashtra has received at least one shot, and 8.7% are fully vaccinated.
Maharashtra is second only to UP, which has administered over 3.6 crore doses till Thursday. Within the state, Mumbai has vaccinated the most: 59.3 lakh have got one shot, while 12.5 lakh have got both doses.
The feat was marred as the drive slowed again due to insufficient supply of doses this week. The BMC has suspended inoculation for Friday at public centres. The state could barely vaccinate 3.1lakh people on Thursday while Mumbai’s turnout halved to (45,171) compared to the previous day. Immunisation took place only at 115 of the 303 public centres in the city.
State officials confirmed they are hoping to receive around 7lakh doses on Friday. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said if doses arrive by Friday night, there would be a trimmed drive on Saturday and the full schedule will run from Monday. This is the second time in little over a month when the BMC has had to cancel vaccination drive due to shortage.
Vaccination in the first week of July had seen a significant uptick. On July 3, Maharashtra had administered 8 lakh doses in a day, but the numbers have dropped since. In all, Maharashtra has administered 3.57crore doses, of which 2.06 crore people have got the first shot and 73.98 lakh have been fully vaccinated.
UP may have administered the highest doses in the country, but it is behind Maharashtra when it comes to complete vaccination. The number of people fully vaccinated in the country’s most populous state is 55.27 lakh, according to CoWin.
Up to 45 lakh doses in the state have been administered in private hospitals. Dr Dilip Patil, state’s immunisation officer, said the erratic supply is hurting the drive. “Whenever we have doses, districts vaccinate in their full capacity,” he said. The Centre had assured Maharashtra of 1.15 crore doses in July. “But we are not sure what volumes will actually arrive. It all depends on how much companies have managed to augment their production capacity,” he said.
