Teen vaccination drive hit as Maharashtra gets only 7 lakh Covaxin doses till mid-February

PUNE: Maharashtra has received only 7 lakh Covaxin doses till February 16 as against the demand of 40-45 lakh doses for the month, state immunisation officer Sachin Desai said on Thursday, while attributing this demand-supply mismatch for the sluggish vaccination drive in the teenage category.

He said across the state, around 34 lakh teenagers have been vaccinated with the first dose and around 10 lakh with the second dose.This number could have been much higher if the Covaxin supply was regular, Desai said.
Public health department officials said the poor availability of the Covaxin doses has not only affected the teenage vaccination drive, but the regular first dose, second dose and precaution dose vaccinations as well.
When asked about the sharp drop in Covaxin supply in February so far, the officials appeared clueless. In January, the state had received 26 lakh Covaxin doses from the Centre. By December-end, the vaccination centres across the state had a stock of 40 lakh Covaxin doses.
Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director, health services, Pune circle, told TOI, “We have received just 1.12 lakh Covaxin doses so far this month, while the demand is much higher from Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune rural parts. Every day, we get many requests about the requirement of doses from the district.”