The state health minister Rajesh Tope said that they needed 40 lakh doses a week.
The Maharashtra government has alleged that due to shortage of Covid vaccine doses, twenty-six vaccination centres have been shut in Mumbai. The state government said on Thursday that they are waiting for more vaccine doses from the Centre. Of the 26 centres, 23 are located in Navi Mumbai that have been closed, reported NDTV.
Reportedly, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has spoken to Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan regarding the issue. Meanwhile, the state health minister Rajesh Tope alleged that the Centre was discriminating between states as the population of Maharashtra is double the population of Gujarat, yet both states have received one crore doses. He said that they needed 40 lakh doses a week and 1.6 crore doses a month.
Mr Tope said that vaccination was halted in parts of the state last evening including Satara, Sangli, Panvel. NCP MP Supriya Sule also tweeted that over 100 vaccination centres in Pune have been shut because of vaccine shortage.
Mr Tope added that he has been informed that the Centre has increased the number of doses from 7 lakh to 17 lakh, yet the number is less as the requirement of the state is of 40 lakh doses a week. Maharashtra government's claims are in contradiction to that of the Centre. Dr Harsh Vardhan had accused the state of making false claims to divert attention from its mismanagement of the outbreak.
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