No vaccination drive on May 1 and 2 in Telangana govt hospitals due to shortage

The government said this was due to non-receipt of vaccine doses.
A patient being administered with the vaccine
A patient being administered with the vaccine
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The Telangana government on Friday announced that there will not be any vaccination drive in government hospitals on May 1 and 2. The reason for this, it said, was due to a lack of stock.

“It is to inform that on 1st May 2021 and 2nd May 2021 there will not be any COVID vaccination programme in the Government Covid Vaccination Centres (GCVCs) across the state, due to non-receipt of vaccine doses,” Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivasa Rao said on Friday in a media statement. 

Amid a shortage of vaccines, the Telangana government earlier this week had received three lakh doses of Covishield from the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune, which was exhausted.  

Due to vaccine shortages, the government will also not be launching phase-3 vaccinations covering those between the ages of 18 and 44 from May 1.

The Union government had earlier announced that everyone between the age group of 18-44 would be eligible for vaccination from May 1, but put the burden of procuring these vaccines and inoculating the people on the state governments and private hospitals. 

The Telangana government had announced that it will be providing free vaccination to all those who are eligible, but has not made any announcement so far about its vaccination strategy. 

A senior official of the Telangana health department said though the state government is in touch with the vaccine manufacturers, there is no certainty on when the stocks would be available for the mass vaccination.

"There are no possibilities (of vaccination)...we are in touch with manufacturers also," Telangana Public Health Director G Srinivasa Rao had told PTI.

"We are in search of the vaccine. We require around four crore doses," he said. 

He said the vaccine manufacturers also could not assure the state government as to when they will be able to supply stocks.

With PTI inputs

 

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