Andhra’s Tika Utsav fails to meet target on first day, runs out of vaccine stock

The state had plans to vaccinate six lakh people per day during the four-day special vaccine drive.
A person extracting Covid vaccine out of a vial
A person extracting Covid vaccine out of a vial
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Despite grand plans to vaccinate six lakh people per day during the Tika Utsav which began on Sunday, Andhra Pradesh has had to settle for just one lakh vaccinations, which was its entire stock in hand. The depleted vaccine stocks have forced the officials to postpone the campaign in some districts, and organise it on a lower scale in other districts.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced that the state would be vaccinating six lakh persons per day, during the four day Tika Utsav campaign called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The chief minister had also written to the Union government, requesting 25 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine, in this regard.

But with the Union  government yet to respond to the state's request, the stocks have dropped very low. As a result, the Utsav had to be postponed till the arrival of fresh stocks in Anantapur district. District authorities said that vaccination would commence on a war footing in the district, as soon as fresh stocks arrive.

The situation is not very different in most of the other districts which are grappling with low stocks and growing demand. State officials said that East and West Godavari, Nellore, Prakasam, Visakhapatnam, and other districts are using the available stocks to vaccinate people in urban areas. In some other districts, the authorities are using the limited stocks for vaccination in both urban and rural areas.

On the other hand, COVID-19 cases are on the rise with every passing day in Andhra Pradesh. As of Sunday, 20,954 active COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the state. In the 24-hour period ending at 9 am on Sunday, 3,495 fresh COVID-19 cases were registered. Chittoor district has recorded the highest number of active cases at 3,917 cases, followed by Guntur with 2,821 cases.  

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