Maha gets 9.83 lakh vaccine doses against 17.5 lakh: Tope

Maharashtra goverment has so far received 9.83 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines out of the total requirement of 17.5 lakh for inoculation in the first phase, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Wednesday.

The state has received only 9.63 vials of Covishield vaccine from the Serum Institute of India and merely 20,000 vials from the Bharat Biotech of its indigenously-made vaccine, Tope told reporters.

"We have to give the doses twice to a person in a gap of four weeks, hence 55 per cent of the around eight lakh registered health workers will undergo vaccination as of now," he said.

"The need of vials for Maharashtra is 17.5 lakh for the first phase. We need slightly more vials because 10 per cent wastage is expected. But, we have received 9.63 lakh vials from the Serum Institute of India," he said.

Besides, the state has received 20,000 vials of the Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, he said.

Tope also informed that the Centre has asked the state to reduce the number of inoculation centers from 511 to 350, saying the government should focus on other emergencies also.

"If we go ahead with 350 centres and 100 people are inoculated at each centre, the state will be able to vaccinate 35,000 health workers on the first day of the vaccination on January 16," he said.

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 2,936 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally of infections to 19,74,488.

The cumulative COVID-19 death toll in the state has reached 50,151, as per official figures.