Door to door COVID-19 vaccinations unlikely for now: Health Ministry

Mumbai : Amid the rising number of coronavirus cases in the nation, Maharashtra has asked for door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination to control the spread of the virus; but the Centre has signalled that it is not feasible for now, also mentioning that they have not received any such request officially.

"What we are dealing with is not only adult vaccination but also a vaccination where there may be adverse events following vaccination.  For which, you need to keep a person under watch for 30 minutes," the health secretary said.

The health secretary also mentioned that "Till date, we have not received any specific update about what you call door to door vaccination".

Earlier on Tuesday, BMC head Iqbal Chahal told reporters, "We requested state to in turn request the Centre to allow us to do door-to-door vaccination".

"When the Centre's team had visited 10 days ago, I had requested them to allow us to go door to door, so we can go on vaccination drive in a big way," he said.

While speaking about the vaccination, the health ministry emphasized how age-wise classification is the best approach for now.

"All districts with high caseload and fast growth of cases must ensure 100% saturation vaccination of the priority age group of 45 year and above, in the coming two weeks," the Centre wrote.

Maharashtra has been contributing a maximum number of daily coronavirus cases in the nation.