State runs out of vaccine for 18+ age group

JAIPUR: Owning to the shortage of Covid vaccine, vaccination for the 18-45 years age group was not carried out at 90% sites in Rajasthan on Wednesday, said a senior official of state health department.

“The vaccination is unlikely to happen tomorrow (Thursday) due to non-availability of the stock,” the official added.

Of the 80 million population in Rajasthan, 12.9 million people have been administered with the first dose of Covid vaccine and 3.18 million people have given both the doses.

Of the total population, 5.31 million people in the 60-plus age group have been administered with the first dose and 1.64 million people have received both the doses.

In the 45-60 age category, more than 5.15 million people have been given the first dose and 0.76 million people have given both the doses.

In the 18-45 age group, more than 1.45 million people have received the first dose, according to the health department data.

The official said that “negligible” number of Covid vaccine doses have been left in districts for the 18-45 years age category.

“We have urged the Serum Institute of India (SII) to release next month’s vaccine in advance. Till date, SII has provided 1.49 million doses for this age bracket. We are also asking Bharat Biotech, which manufactures Covaxin to release state’s order of 0.28 million doses, pending since last three weeks,” he said.

The official said the state will not conduct vaccination for the 18-45 age group on Thursday as the vaccine was not available.

The centre government will be providing 1.65 million doses fortnightly to Rajasthan in June for the 45-plus age category.

An official on condition of anonymity said the vaccine allotment is “inadequate” considering the population of Rajasthan. “The fortnightly allotment is very less and should be increased,” the official said.

Rajasthan was among the leading states across the country in vaccination – the state in a day has vaccinated over 0.55 million people, which can be increased to 0.7 million provided the vaccine is available. To speed up the vaccination, Rajasthan recently invited global tenders to procure 10 million doses, which are currently under scrutiny.

Meanwhile, in order to ensure social security to the families affected with Covid-19, the state government has ordered for an audit of the deaths during the pandemic.

On basis of the audit, the government plans to provide help to the families losing their bread earners due to the pandemic. “We are worried about life of the people, not the figures. Our government is fighting the war against corona with cooperation of all sections of the society with complete transparency,” the chief minister said.