MUMBAI: Maharashtra clocked a record-breaking 5.55 lakh vaccinations on Tuesday, its highest in a day, as the drive resumed for 18-plus.
Mumbai, too, repeated its Monday feat by vaccinating over 1 lakh people for the second consecutive day.
Importantly, after three weeks of lagging behind private hospitals, free vaccination in public centres surged ahead as they administered double the number of doses compared to paid centres.
A total of 5,55,090 doses administered was not just the state’s personal best, it was also the second-highest number vaccinated among states on Tuesday—UP vaccinated 7.96 lakh people.
The state has completed administering 2.87 crore doses, the highest so far in the country.
Over 56.16 lakh people, or around 7%, of the state’s 8.5 crore population eligible for vaccination, have got both the doses till date.
Mumbai, which couldn’t start the free vaccination drive for 18-plus group with the rest of the state on Tuesday, will do so from Wednesday, civic officials said.
Over one lakh given shots in Mum for second day in a rowMaharashtra carried out 5.55 lakh vaccinations on Tuesday, its highest in a day.
The state opened vaccination for 30-plus last week and subsequently for 18-plus on Monday.
In the city, 50% of the vaccinations will happen through online appointments and the rest through walk-ins.
CM Uddhav Thackeray and public health minister Rajesh Tope lauded the health department for achieving the feat.
“Maharashtra has taken a lead in preventive vaccination,” said additional chief secretary Dr Pradip Vyas.
The last time Maharashtra had breached the 5 lakh mark was on April 26.
Interestingly, states such as MP and Karnataka that did record-high vaccinations on Monday—when India delivered 81 lakh doses— couldn’t keep up their pace on Tuesday.
MP’s numbers dropped from 16.9 lakh doses on Monday to just 4,825 on Tuesday, while Karnataka’s dropped from 10.67 lakh to 3.92 lakh.
Maharashtra had administered 3.8 lakh doses on Monday and was behind several states.
In Mumbai, 1,13,135 people got vaccinated across 382 public and private centres.
The total number of people who have received at least one dose has reached 46.84 lakh.
The highest vaccinations happened in the age-group of 30-44 years, where 80,932 people took the shots.
Of the total shots administered, 78,827 were in the public and 34308 in private centres.
Several private hospitals told TOI there is a sharp drop in demand for paid vaccination.A hospital head said the scam at Kandivli’s Hiranandani housing society, followed by several similar complaints, has discouraged many from holding such drives.
“There has been a 50% decline in enquiries and bookings.
Besides, we are not sure when we will receive our stocks from the Centre, so that too is holding us back,” he said.
Dr Prince Surana of Surana Group too said there was a drop in demand for tie-ups as well as in online bookings through CoWin.
“Since vaccine doses have started coming to public centres, many are preferring to wait for free vaccination,” he said.
But hen asked if the state and city will be able to continue this momentum, state officials didn’t respond.