Short on supply, several states defer COVID-19 vaccination drive for people aged 18-44 years
New Delhi: The second wave of Corona continues to wreak havoc in the country and the number of patients infected with the virus is increasing rapidly in many states. Amidst all this, all citizens above the age of 18 will be administered the Corona vaccine dose across the country from May 1.
However, many states have cited the lack of vaccines as the reason to defer the vaccination drive. Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bengal, Puducherry and Jammu & Kashmir are among the states who have deferred the vaccination drive. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh are among the states which have already raised the issue of vaccine shortage even for the ongoing inoculation drive for those above 45 years of age. All of the aforementioned states have said that the dates will be announced later once the vaccine supply is established.
However, denying that there was any shortage of vaccine, the Union Health Ministry had on Thursday said that more than 1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and UTs and they will receive over 20 lakh more doses by Sunday. As per reports, Serum Institute's current manufacturing capacity is 6-7 crore doses per month while Bharat Biotech made around 2 crore doses in April as against 1.5 crore doses in March.
The Centre on Friday also said that some states, which have already coordinated with manufacturers, will kick off the drive on the designated date. It stressed that any new exercise takes time to pick up pace and this phase three of the vaccination drive too will stabilise over time.
At a press conference, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said the states are coordinating with vaccine manufacturers for procuring the doses and the Centre is providing the required support. "Vaccination will be launched tomorrow in some states which have already coordinated with manufacturers. Any new exercises or process takes time to pick up pace and gradually more centres will be increased. The programme will stabilise in some time," he said. This is a paid programme unless the state governments subsidise it, Agarwal said, adding free vaccination of priority groups by the Government of India will continue. According to government data, more than 2.45 crore beneficiaries have registered so far on the Co-WIN portal. While more than 1.37 crore people registered themselves on April 28, more than 1.04 crore registered by the end of April 29.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that state will not join the national level rollout of COVID-19 vaccination for people aged 18-44 on May 1 as the required vaccine doses have not been received yet for the drive. He appealed to people in the targeted age group not to line up at vaccination centres in the city on May 1. In the next one-two days, around three lakh Covishield vaccines will be received and the drive for vaccinating people in the age group 18-44 will commence, Kejriwal said in an online briefing. Punjab government too deferred the inoculation drive for this category due to "non-availability" of the vaccine.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh made it clear that all vaccinations at private health facilities will remain suspended from Saturday. The chief minister said as the balance of unutilised vaccines had to be returned to the Government of India by all private health facilities by Friday evening, these facilities would have no vaccines to administer from Friday for 45+ population, while they could not vaccinate 18-45 age group as they had no supplies for the same. Giving a similar reason, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said, "Our Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar has said clearly that the vaccine has not been supplied yet. We will vaccinate people once it arrives".
The State has an estimated 3.5 crore people in 18-45 age group. Explaining the reason behind the cancelation of drive, Tamil Nadu 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 1.5 crore doses of vaccine sought by Tamil Nadu, will arrive." The state government has not yet received a reply from the Centre on the demand for vaccines. Assuming the Central government would give its nod, the quantum that would be sanctioned to Tamil Nadu is yet to be known, he said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state can't decide anything on its own when there is a shortage.
"It has become difficult to decide on vaccination," he said, apparently hinting the inoculation drive may not take off on Saturday. The Kerala government had on Wednesday decided to procure one crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including 70 lakh Covishield jabs, for the third phase of vaccination slated on Saturday. The Jammu and Kashmir administration too on Friday said the third phase of the inoculation drive that will cover people in the 18-45 age group will not begin from May 1 in the union territory. Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo said the union territory 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 COWIN, the actual vaccination will not begin from 1 May 2021. 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. Arunachal Pradesh government has deferred the roll-out of the inoculation drive till further orders citing some "technical" issues. A senior official of Telangana health department said though the state government is in touch with vaccine manufacturers, there is no certainty on when the stocks would be available for the mass vaccination. "We are in touch with the manufacturers also. We are in search of the vaccine. We require around four crore doses," Telangana Public Health Director G Srinivasa Rao said. According to a senior official in Andhra Pradesh government, inoculation may not start on May 1 in the state as planned due to delay in procurement of vaccine from manufacturers. The state government has already written to the manufacturers for vaccine supplies and yet to get confirmation from them. An official release from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's office said as per the availability of stocks, the complete vaccination process for the age group (18 to 44 years) in the country will not be completed until January next year.
