The vaccination centres in several districts in Maharashtra do not have enough shots of the anti-COVID vaccine and will run out of stock in a day or two, state health minister Rajesh Tope said, reports ANI. He was quoted by ANI saying that people are sent back from vaccination centres due to a shortage of doses.

“We have demanded from the Centre that people of age group 20-40 years must be vaccinated on priority,” Tope was quoted as saying by ANI.

This comes amid a steep rise of coronavirus in the state, as Maharashtra on Tuesday logged 55,469 new cases of COVID-19.

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As of Wednesday morning, Maharashtra had around 14 lakh doses of anti-COVID vaccine, state principal secretary (health) Pradeep Vyas told PTI.

Vyas said that many districts will run out of the stock by Wednesday or Thursday. “The Centre is aware of the situation and (we) have also communicated in writing,” he said, quoted PTI. 

Maharashtra has been administering four lakh vaccine shots daily and is capable of vaccinating five lakh vaccine shots in a day, Vyas said.

Since India kicked off its vaccination drive, Maharashtra has administered the first shot of anti-COVID vaccine to nearly 82 lakh people.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has requested the central government to allow people above the age of 25 years to be able to get vaccinated in order to prevent young people from the rapid spread of coronavirus infection.