Javadekar, Tope engage in Twitter spar over Maharashtra vaccination numbers
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government and the Centre indulged in a Twitter spat on Friday over the vaccination drive in the state.
While Union Minister Prakash Javadekar asked the Maharashtra government to increase the number of doses administered per day, MVA health minister Rajesh Tope hit back claiming his state had vaccinated the most number of people in the country so far.
Tope also said the state could do even better and achieve a target of covering three lakh beneficiaries per day if the Centre helped with a continuous supply of vaccine doses.
In a tweet on Friday, Javadekar had said, "Discussed with Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan and Chairman of National Task Force on Covid Dr V K Paul. They have assured increased supply of vaccine to Maharashtra depending upon actual use. I request Maharashtra Govt to double vaccination from tomorrow."
Tope, in a tweet in Marathi, said, "Maharashtra is leading in vaccination in the country. So far, 52 lakh people have received it and we have set a target of inoculating three lakh people daily. State can achieve the feat only if centre ensures uninterrupted supply vaccine dosages."
While Javadekar had recently said Maharashtra was "under-utilising vaccine stock", the state government claimed its vaccine wastage rate is 6 per cent, while the permissible limit is 9 per cent.
The state government had also sent a list of small hospitals to the Centre seeking permission to allow them to vaccinate people, as Maharashtra is not only the worst hit in terms of numbers, but the death toll was also rising.