Key Points:
- Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced that a dry run for Covid-19 vaccination in Maharashtra’s districts on January 8.
- “We are going to set up vaccination centres at state and civic-run hospitals. If we could set up 100 such centres with each catering to 100 persons, we can cover the entire health staff in 70 to 80 days,” the minister said.
- “I had a video conference with union public health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan where I demanded that the Centre bear the cost of vaccination including operational expenses,” Tope said in a video message on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced that a dry run for Covid-19 vaccination in Maharashtra’s districts on January 8. “The dry run is being conducted to check whether all the preparations are in sync and if there is any need for any further fine tuning,” said Tope.
Tope said that the state government is fully geared up for the vaccination drive and the drive can begin once the Centre gives the vaccine stocks.
While addressing reporters, Tope also said that the Maharashtra government will seek some clarifications from the Centre on the two COVID-19 vaccines approved for the restricted emergency use before launching a mass inoculation drive in the state.
After the availability of the vaccine, Tope said that the Centre might inform the state in the next 10 days about the availability of the doses. He said cold storage facilities and supply chains are being set up in Maharashtra, which he said is ready to launch the mass vaccination. “We are going to set up vaccination centres at state and civic-run hospitals. If we could set up 100 such centres with each catering to 100 persons, we can cover the entire health staff in 70 to 80 days,” the minister said.
After talking in the scheduled meeting on January 7 with the Union Health Minister, Tope said that the clarifications about the vaccine is yet to be given and that Maharashtra has raised its concerns about the Covid-19 vaccines.
On Thursday, Rajesh Tope gave a statement in which he said that the Centre has agreed to bear the cost of coronavirus vaccination in the first phase where some eight lakh health workers in the state will get the jab. “I had a video conference with union public health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan where I demanded that the Centre bear the cost of vaccination including operational expenses,” Tope said in a video message.
“Entire operations will be based on CoWin application. What if the health workers are not technology savvy at the vaccination centre or internet connection is not available? Clarification is also needed on which vaccine will be given for use from the Centre – the Covishield and Covaxin?” Tope asked while the call.
This ‘mock drill’ will help determine the efficacy of the mass vaccination system. Before this, a dry run was conducted in the Jalna, Nagpur, Pune, and Nanburbar districts of Maharashtra after which some concerns were raised. Tope also said the number of vaccines to be given to Maharashtra will also be discussed.
