Vaccination drive in Maharashtra prisons going slow

Only 4,409 of 33,971 inmates have received at-least the first dose

The vaccination drive across 47 prisons in Maharashtra has been rather slow with only 4,409 inmates having received at least the first dose out of the total 33,971 inmates, that it houses. According to the Maharashtra Prison Department, there are 28,716 under-trials and 5,255 convicts lodged across the State of which 3,338 under-trials and 1,021 convicts have been vaccinated. However, Additional Director General of Police (prisons) Sunil Ramanand told The Hindu, “We are handling around 34,000 inmates in prisons including temporary prisons. We have vaccinated 30% of our prison population in jails across the State. At Taloja Jail, we had organised vaccinations camps for prisoners. Superintendents of jails are in touch with officers of respective municipal corporations are steps are taken to expedite the process. The numbers of COVID-19 positive cases have gone down and in the second wave we have seen three deaths. The situation is under control.”