Covid-19: At PM’s meet, Maharashtra govt seeks mandatory vaccination

MUMBAI: Raising its demand for additional Covid-19 vaccines, the Maharashtra government on Thursday also asked the Centre to consider making vaccination mandatory for everyone as a solution to vaccine hesitancy. “We have sought 90 lakh additional doses – 40 lakh of Covaxin and 50 lakh of Covishield to complete the vaccination of those in the 15-18 age group and also administer the precautionary dose to the eligible population. We have asked the Centre to consider making vaccination mandatory to address hesitancy and to ensure speedy vaccination for all,” said State Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

Maharashtra government has been struggling to increase its speed of vaccination and has taken several steps to bring it on par with the national average but many districts still continue to be on the bottom of the ladder.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a virtual meeting with all the chief ministers on the backdrop of the rising Covid-19 cases. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray could not participate in the meeting due to his ill health, and the health minister represented the state. Although, Maharashtra did not get a chance to speak in the meeting all the demands by the state have been sent to the Centre in writing, said Tope.

“Vaccination is the biggest weapon to slow down the surge and the Centre must come out with a policy to address hesitancy,” said Tope. The state has also raised the issue of unreported test results due to home-testing kits. “Lakhs of home-testing kits are being sold in the state but test results are not being communicated to the state. There has to be a mechanism in place to ensure that every positive result gets recorded in the system. At the state level we have called for more regulation at the pharmacy level," said Tope.