More states say no vaccine for 18+yet, confine drive
Several more states on Friday said they do not have sufficient supply of Covid-19 vaccines to begin the third phase of the nationwide inoculation drive for those aged above 18 years on Saturday, even as new infections surged to another daily record.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government will be unable to launch its Covid-19 vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group as per schedule from Saturday as the government has no doses for it, even he reiterated their target was to vaccinate everyone in the national capital in three months.
“The vaccines have not reached us till now. We are in touch with the manufacturers and the first batch of 300,000 doses of Covishield vaccine is likely to arrive in a day or two,” he said at a digital press conference.
Kejriwal urged people against visiting inoculation centres to prevent any law-and-order situation and flouting of Covid appropriate behaviour. “Once we receive the doses, I will formally announce the date of launch of the mega vaccination drive.”
Officials said neither government nor private vaccination centres were going to start the drive for the 18-44 age group from Saturday. Hospitals have been asked to return all remaining doses provided by the government for the current vaccination drive meant for people above 45 after Friday’s vaccination and purchase their own shots.
Registration for the third phase of the immunisation drive for people aged between 18 and 44 began on Wednesday. Other states have also signalled vaccines may not be immediately available because of a shortage of stocks and delay in order deliveries. Officials across states told HT on Thursday that the doses would not be available by May 1, as did private hospitals. Only three of 16 state governments contacted by HT on Tuesday said they expected at least some doses to start arriving by the end of the first week of May.
In Karnataka, state health minister K Sudhakar said the vaccination drive for 18+ age group will not commence on Saturday. “We are yet to receive any exact details on delivery of vaccines from Serum Institute of India (SII). So, we will not be able to commence vaccination for people between 18-44 from
GUJARAT AND UP SAY THEY WILL VACCINATE PEOPLE ABOVE THE AGE OF 18 FROM TODAY, BUT WILL LIMIT IT TO THE DISTRICTS WORST AFFECTED
tomorrow [May 1],” Sudhakar said on Friday.
Karnataka has placed an order for 10 million doses of Covishield valued ₹400 crore. It has so far received over 9.9 million doses and inoculated more than 9.3 million, according to government data. The state has around 590,000 doses left, which the government plans to use for vaccinating people aged above 45.
Sudhakar there are over 30 million people in the 18-44 age group in the state and the government will announce the dates of vaccination for it once it has more clarity on the delivery of doses from SII.
Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said that Covid-19 vaccine makers have told the state government that up to 1.8 million doses could be provided to the state in the month of May. “In that situation, the state is planning to set up one centre per district to inoculate people,” he said.
On the 18-44 age group vaccination drive, he said, “We need to reduce the number of vaccination centres so that they administer the doses on a daily basis in a smooth manner.”
“Unless we get adequate supply of vaccines, we cannot increase the coverage of population in terms of their vaccination,” the minister said.
Tope said the state government would take back Covid-19 vaccines from private hospitals and administer these doses to people through state-run health centres only.
With uncertainty looming large over the supply of Covid-19 vaccines, the Tamil Nadu government too deferred its roll out the massive vaccination drive for the 18-44 years age group on Saturday. State health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said, “Instead of waiting till tomorrow (and disappoint people), I wish to clarify (now) that we are unsure when and how much out of 15 million doses of vaccine sought by Tamil Nadu, will arrive.”
Chief minister K Palaniswami has already issued orders to procure 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine doses, to facilitate the next phase of vaccination, he said. “But we don’t know how much and when the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech will supply,” Radhakrishnan said.
In the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, the administration said the third phase of the inoculation drive will not begin from May 1 and new date will be announced once vaccine supply is established.
Financial commissioner, health and medical education, Atal Dulloo said the UT expects to receive vaccines by May 20.
“While the registration for vaccination of eligible persons in the age group 18-45 has been opened on Co-WIN, the actual vaccination will not begin from May 1. It will begin from a date to be announced later once the vaccine supply is established,” the department of information and public relations said on Twitter.
It said J&K has ordered 12.4 million doses of vaccine, among the highest in the country, to cover the entire population in the 18-45 age group.
Other states have said they will begin vaccination the adult population from Saturday but in limited centres only.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday said it will start the vaccination for the 18-44 age group from Saturday in seven districts that have more than 9,000 active Covid-19 cases. “From May 1, vaccination for people between 18-44 years will also start. In the first phase, which will be extended to other cities also, the government will start the vaccination in seven districts that have more than 9,000 active cases,” additional chief secretary, health, Amit Mohan Prasad said.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive will start in Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Bareilly, he said. The software made for this exercise will be tested in these districts before being used elsewhere, Prasad said.
He, however, did not elaborate on the availability of vaccines in the state and the number of registered beneficiaries.
In Gujarat, chief minister Vijay Rupani assured that the vaccination drive for 18+ age group will commence in the state from May 1 itself. However, this will be limited to 10 most-affected districts and will be expanded to the entire state as soon as the vaccine availability increases.
The state is set to celebrate Gujarat Foundation Day on May 1. “CM Shri @vijayrupanibjp in a video message assures people about the commencement of corona vaccination for the 18+ people from tomorrow, May 1, the Gujarat Foundation Day, in 10 most-affected districts and will cover the entire State as soon as the vaccine availability increases,” the chief minister’s office tweeted.