Poonawalla promises to deliver 1.5 crore Covishield doses to Maharashtra after May 20: Rajesh Tope

Poonawalla’s promise:- Maharashtra is the worst affected state in India and has reported 46,781 fresh cases and 816 deaths in the past 24 hours. With these new cases, the total number of COVID 19 cases has been increased to 5226710. 

Out of which, 58805 patients have been recovered in the last 24 hours, thus increasing the total number of recoveries to 4600196. The active number of COVID cases in Maharashtra is 546129, and with new deaths, the number of deaths in the state has pushed up to 78007. 

A state cabinet meeting in Maharashtra on May 12, 2021, to discuss how to manage the covid crisis. After which, health minister Rajesh Tope had said that CEO chief of Serum Institute of India Adar Poonawalla had promised Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray 1.5 crore doses of COVID 19 vaccines to be delivered to Maharashtra after May 20.

The state plans to start the vaccination process for age bracket 18-44 after Poonawalla fulfils his promise and delivers the said amount of vaccines. 

 Maharashtra has stopped the vaccination of the 18-44 years age group because of the shortage of vaccines and is focusing on the second dose of the 45+ age group. To this, the health minister said that the Vaccination process for the age group of 18-44 age group had been stopped for some time due to a shortage of vaccines. He even further said that all the doses currently purchased by the state government would be used for the 45+ categories.

More than 1.8 crore doses of vaccines have been administered in Maharashtra so far, of which 1.51 crore are first doses, and 38.11 crores are second doses. 

When asked about the extension of lockdown, the health minister Rajesh Tope said that the health department and other ministers have requested to extend the lockdown by 15 days at the Cabinet Meeting, but the final decision to be taken is left on the Chief Minister of the state.

The Cabinet Minister in Maharashtra, Aslam Sheikh, remarked that the Central Government should lift up some rules and norms in buying the vaccines. He said that if the Centre relaxes some of its import laws, then the state will be able to vaccinate the people in 3-4 months. He even said that the states need to given more freedom and rights so that the purchase of the vaccines can be made easier, which will eventually help in vaccinating more people. 

Adar Poonawalla has been in a lot of news since he is the only billionaire in India who took up the responsibility of producing vaccines. Thus he and his organization Serum Institute of India becoming the lifesavers for the country and the world. There have been issues regarding the supply, pricing of the vaccines. Because of the threats and the pressure faced by the most powerful people in the country, Adaar Poonawalla and his family moved to London. 

Let’s see what happens? What new unfolds in the case of Adar Poonawalla? Is the promise made by Adar Poonawalla and the Serum Institute of India maintained?