Rajesh Tope: Maharashtra govt plans to procure Russia's 'Sputnik-V' vaccine

Maharashtra has ben reporting highest number of covid cases. Especially big cities like Mumbai and Pune have reported huge surge in covid cases. In order to curb the spread, the state government has imposed lockdown across the state. The state government is trying to vaccinate more people in the state.

Against this backdrop, information has come to light that the state government is making efforts to provide another vaccine to Maharashtra. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope today gave important information regarding Russia's 'Sputnik-V' vaccine.

The state government is trying to bring stocks of 'Sputnik-V' vaccine to Maharashtra. Discussions are also being held with the concerned company for this. Efforts are being made to make Sputnik-V available in consultation with the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Rajesh Tope said in a press conference held today that discussions are underway to fix the price of 'Sputnik-V' vaccine. Therefore, Sputnik-V vaccine is likely to be available to the people of the state in the near future.

The country currently offers two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin. But due to insufficient supply, vaccines are not available at vaccination centers. Therefore, the state government is making efforts to make more vaccines available to the public in pursuit of making more vaccines available.

There are currently 6 lakh 39 thousand active covid patients in Maharashtra. Corona's recovery rate is 85.5 percent, said Rajesh Tope. Tope, meanwhile, acknowledged that there was a shortage of vaccines in the state. At present, a total of 15,274 people in the age group of 18 to 44 years have been given the first dose of corona vaccine in the state. The number of people in the state who have taken both doses of vaccine is 28 lakh 66 thousand. Tope also informed that there are 38 oxygen producing plants in Maharashtra out of which 53 metric tons of oxygen is being produced.