Now, Raj, Chhattisgarh halt inoculation for 18+

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on Thursday announced that they were suspending vaccinations of people in the 18-44 age group, due to nonavailability of Covid-19 vaccines, following the example of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

With Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, the two Indian companies providing vaccines to the government, not able to meet the growing demand for vaccines, as many as 12 states have decided to float global tenders to buy vaccines.

“We are suspending vaccination till we get vaccines from Serum Institute,” said a Rajasthan government official, adding that the state expects to resume vaccination from Saturday if the vaccines arrive.

The state has around 200,000 vaccines meant for those above 45 years. The official added that these would likely be used up on Thursday and that the state would wait for more vaccines from the Centre. Rajasthan has so far vaccinated 14.6 million people (3.3 million have received both shots and 11.6 million one shot). This includes 5,63,122 people in the 18-44 age group who have received one dose.

The state has ordered 30.75 million vaccines from the SII, of which 650,000 have been delivered. The state has also ordered around 300,000 Covaxin doses from Bharat Biotech. Rajasthan has decided to float a global tender to procure 10 million jabs.

The Union government prosecond vides states with free vaccines for those over the age of 45 and frontline workers. States have to make their own arrangements for vaccines for the 18-45 years age group, though the Centre works with vaccine manufacturers to decide how many vaccines each state is eligible for. A Chhattisgarh government official said vaccination in the 18-44 age group for Above Poverty Line (APL) people was stopped in Raipur due to unavailability “Vaccination is going on for other categories such as poor and frontline workers across the state,” said state immunisation officer, Dr Amar Singh Thakur. Health minister TS Singhdeo expressed confidence of getting vaccines soon to continue vaccination drive. West Bengal which started vaccination for the 18 - 44 segment on Tuesday in select districts may have to suspend the inoculation if vaccines don’t arrive in the next two days, officials said.

States such as Goa, Himachal and Bihar are yet to start vaccination of 18-44 age group. Himachal Pradesh plans to start vaccinating people in this segment from May 17 with chief minister Jai Ram Thakur saying that the state has received first consignment of 1.07 lakh doses from the SII on Wednesday. Tripura on Thursday started vaccinations for people in the 18-44 age group.

Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have not started vaccnating people in this segment -something that was supposed to begin from May 1. While Andhra Pradesh has stopped administering first doses to people over the age of 45 -- it wants to prioritise doses -- Telangana has been giving both first and second doses to those above 45 years. Both the governments have clarified that they will start vaccinations for the 18-44 age group only after the completion of second dose of vaccination for those over the age of 45 years.

Madhya Pradesh immunization officer Santosh Shukla said, “Madhya Pradesh has about 3 lakh vaccines for the 18-44 years age group and within three days, we will receive 9 lakhs more. We started the vaccination of 18 + four days late because we wanted to have enough stock .”

Uttar Pradesh, which has opened vaccinations for the 18-44 age group in 18 of its 75 districts, said it would start vaccinations in more districts once it receives five lakh vaccine doses by Friday. “We have enough vaccine doses to run the drive,” said state Health and Family Welfare minister, Jai Pratap Singh.

Punjab, which is left with only 60,000 jabs for the 18-44 age group, is not contemplating a suspension of the drive, said health minister Balbir Sidhu. The state has ordered 3 million doses of Covieshield and is expecting 2.5 lakh doses between May 15 and 25. Odisha and Assam do not plan to suspend vaccination for the 18-44 age group, as both states have enough stocks.

Maharashtra on Wednesday decided to suspend the vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group and divert the vaccines to provide second doses for those above 45, health minister Rajesh Tope said.