Maharashtra plans to first vaccinate 35-44 year olds

Mumbai, May 08: Maharashtra has planned to give the first shot to those in the age group of 35-44, with preference to people with cormorbidities despite a shortage of vaccines.

State health minister, Rajesh Tope said that Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray is expected to take a decision on the same soon. At present the state is vaccinating those in the age group of 18-44 only in five centres in a district. Tope said that the move was promoted as the state saw several instances where the people from the urban areas took appointments.

"In many places, tech-savvy people from cities take appointments for vaccination in talukas and rural areas. Till we have abundant supply of vaccines, we will have to make slots as per the age group and comorbidities. If 100% from the 18-44 category are allowed to go, there can be crowding. We plan to have an age bracket of 35 to 44, with preference to people with comorbidities. I will discuss this with the chief minister," Tope also said.

He said that the state has not got the doses assured by the Serum Institute of India for vaccination for the age group of 18-44. The institute has assured us that it would supply an additional 350,000 doses.

However the same has not come as yet, he also said. For the 18-44 group vaccination we are going slow as per the availability of 779,000 vaccinations. We will ramp up as we get more stock, he also said.