Over 400 residents had to return to their homes after the all five centres of Nagpur giving Covaxin ran out of the vaccine. The same was reported in Marathi daily ‘Sakal,’ which also mentioned that the stock of Covishield vaccine also dried up at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).

However, GMCH did have a two-day stock of Covishield but the stock had to be transferred to Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) Mahal vaccination centre.

We tried getting in touch with Dr Avinash Gawande, Medical Superintendent at GMCH but couldn’t communicate.

All five centres include: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), India Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH), Daga Hospital and Mahal Diagnostic Centre.

A week back, Maharashtra had emerged as the leader in the COVID-19 vaccination drive as it has administered vaccine doses to 43,42,646 people. Maharashtra tops the list of states in the country in terms of the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered,” said Dr Pradeep Vyas, Principal Secretary of Maharashtra Public Health Department.

However, amid the recent shortage of vaccines in Maharashtra, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope, on Thursday April 8, said that the state might run out of COVID-19 vaccines in three days. He said he had asked the Centre to send more stocks at the earliest to prevent people from returning home without getting vaccinated.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Goel, in response to Topes statement, said, Maharashtra’s statements on vaccine shortage were nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the Maharashtra government’s repeated failures to control the spread of pandemic.