Mumbai, Jan 12 (IANS): With 963,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine being allotted and received on Tuesday, Maharashtra is all prepared to start administering the vaccine across the state, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.
The Serum Institute of India (SII) has dispatched around 14.50 tonnes of the eagerly-awaited vaccine vials all over India, of which 9.63 lakh doses have been sent to the state health authorities.
"It will now be distributed district-wise as per the instructions from the Centre's corona vaccination experts group. The vaccination drives shall be carried out in 511 locations across 36 districts," Tope informed the media.
All the selected places are fully equipped with electricity, webcast, internet and other facilities, besides 3,125 cold chain centres which have been set up in the state.
"As many as 7,84,000 health workers have already registered on the state's Covid-19 portal and the process will continue till midnight (Tuesday-Wednesday)," said Pradip Vyas, Principal Secretary (Health).
Tope said that the nine priority groups for vaccination purposes have already been identified and they include healthcare and frontline workers comprising all government and private health institutions, Asha, Anganwadi, central police forces, armed forces, home guard, municipal workers etc.
The third group includes all people above 50 years of age and those below 50 years with comorbidities.
Besides the 7.48 lakh persons registered, another 17,749 vaccinators have also registered for the mega-drive, said Vyas.
Each centre will vaccinate at least 100 people and all arrangements have been made for the vaccination teams comprising around five members at all locations.
Of the 3,135 cold chain centres set up across the state, there are 34 at various districts and 27 in different municipalities, including four walk-in freezers, 21 walk-in coolers, 3,937 deep freezers, and 4,153 ILRs.
The walk-in coolers have come up at Thane, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Latur, Akola and Nagpur.
The Centre has sent 1,200 vaccine carriers, which have already been despatched to the districts and municipal corporations.