JOIN USGujarat half the size of Maharashtra but gets same number of Covid-19 vaccine doses: Tope
The war of words between the Centre and Maharashtra intensified on Thursday with State Health Minister Rajesh Tope saying that at least 40 lakh dosages per week were required.
He said that Maharashtra – which has a population of 12 crore has received 1.04 crore doses so far, whereas neighbouring Gujarat – which has a population of 6 crore – has got 1 crore doses.
"Gujarat is half of the population of Maharashtra. Gujarat has got 1 crore vaccines till now, however, we have got only 1.04 crore vaccine dosages," he added.
“Maharashtra has the maximum number of active patients – around 4.5 lakh as on date, on the other hand we have crossed the progressive total of 30 lakh,” he said.
“We hardly have 9 lakh doses left…which would last for one or one-and-a-half days,” he said. “We will maintain the level of six lakh per week…we will not go beyond it at this stage, but at least give us 40 lakh vaccines per week,” Tope told reporters.
He also said that the state was following the ICMR guidelines of 70:30 ratio of RT-PCRs and RATs. “We are strictly following what the ICMR suggested,” he said, however, pointed out that in Uttar Pradesh it is the other way round – 90 per cent RATs and 10 per cent RT-PCR.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday rubbished the Maharashtra government for its SOS on the "shortage" of Covid-19 vaccines, calling the allegations "utterly baseless". He also said that a "lackadaisical and casual attitude" of the state government has weighed on the country’s efforts to fight the virus.
Vardhan's statement came hours after Tope flagged the alleged issue of Covid-19 vaccine shortage, claiming that the existing vaccine stock would last just three days in Maharashtra at the current rate.