NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday denied that it had received a request by the Maharashtra government to carry out door-to-door Covid-19 vaccination for those who cannot go to hospitals to take the jabs. “To date, we haven’t received any specific request from Maharashtra government,” said Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan at a press briefing but added that there was no precedence of such a practice.
“In India, we do universal Immunisation (for kids), but even there we have not done door-to-door vaccination for vaccines that are administered through injections,” he said. The reply by the Union Health Ministry says amid reports came out that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has written to the Centre requesting it to allow conducting door-to-door vaccination for the elderly and differently abled who are unable to move and travel long distances.
Mumbai is the second worst-hit city in the country as of now with a total number of active Covid19 cases only below Pune. Bhushan said the Covid-19 vaccination programme involves adult vaccination. It may involve adverse events following immunisation which needs to be monitored, he added.
There have been some reports in local media in Maharashtra which suggested that the health ministry has “rejected the BMC’s request to allow door-to-door vaccination of debilitated senior citizens, the visually impaired and those with physical disabilities”.The reason for denying this permission, the reports said, was that the Centre “does not have any such policy”.