MUMBAI: A total of 36,39,989 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state till March 17, the Maharashtra government said in a statement on Thursday.
Yesterday, 2,74,037 people (2,22,771 Covishield and 51266 Covaxin) were vaccinated in 2908 sessions, the state government further said.
Among the districts with the most number of active COVID-19 cases, 9081 people were vaccinated in Mumbai on Wednesday, 19085 people were vaccinated in Nagpur, 22339 in Pune, 22339 in Thane, 7120 in Amravati, 12264 in Jalgaon, 13331 in Nashik and 7731 were vaccinated in Aurangabad, as per the data of the state health department.
Earlier, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope met Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on March 16 and gave a letter to Principal Secretary Rajesh Bhushan requesting the Union Health Ministry to provide 20 lakh vaccine doses per week to Maharashtra.
"Currently, we are aiming to vaccinate three lakh people every day, for which we will need about 2 million doses every week. We have informed the Union Health Ministry," Tope had said.
He had further said, "So far, those who are eligible for vaccination, such as Healthcare workers, frontline workers, senior citizens above 60 years and people with co-morbidities above the age of 45 years, are 1.77 crores. To give them both first and second doses, around 2 crore doses of vaccine are required. We have conveyed this to the Union Health Ministry."
The state Health Minister further requested the Central Government to grant permission to 367 hospitals in Maharashtra to carry out vaccinations.
"But only 209 hospitals have been recognised so far. About 150 hospitals have not been recognised. At present, according to the policy of the Central Government, only hospitals with a capacity of 100 beds or more can be turned into a vaccination centre," the minister had said.
"We have requested that hospitals which can complete the process of vaccination as per the standards should be considered eligible to carry out vaccination even if they have a capacity of 50 beds. This will allow the vaccination drive to be completed faster and in a better manner", he added.