Hyderabad: The corona vaccine has emerged as the only viable support in our fight against Covid-19, whose second wave has debilitated the nation like anything. The world’s largest vaccination campaign is going on in India at the moment.
After the announcement of vaccination of people between 18 years and 45 years by the Central government, the shortage of vaccine is coming to the fore.
In fact, the Central government has announced a vaccination campaign for people over 18 years of age across the country from May 1.
Many states have complained of a shortage of vaccines due to which they cannot start vaccination from May 1.
As per the detailing coming from most of the States, the company that makes the Covid-19 vaccine has got orders to supply vaccines from the States, but according to the companies, the supply of the vaccine will take time.
In such a situation, many States have raised their hands before the start of this campaign. However, in Rajasthan and Gujarat, the vaccination campaign will start first in most infected districts in a phased manner.
MAHARASHTRA
Like the first wave of corona infection, the second wave has affected Maharashtra in the worst way. Maharashtra is reporting the highest number of new cases of corona and deaths. The vaccination of people above 18 years of age will not begin in Maharashtra from May 1. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has said that this vaccination campaign will not be started until 25 lakh to 30 lakh vials of vaccine are available. According to Tope, there should be enough stock for at least five days to start the vaccination.
Read: Defence Minister grants special emergency financial powers to Armed Forces
DELHI
The second wave of corona is wreaking havoc on Delhi, the country’s capital. Meanwhile, the Central government has announced that corona vaccination of people above 18 years of age from May 1, but Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has clearly said that they have not got enough vaccine doses. “We are constantly in contact with companies and we hope that in a day or two we will get a sufficient amount of vaccine. That is why I appeal to the people of Delhi not to get in the lines of the vaccination centre, because the law and order situation can deteriorate due to all this. Everyone will be informed as soon as the vaccine is received in sufficient quantity, after which people will be able to get the vaccine easily,” he has said.
BIHAR
In Bihar too, people above the age of 18 years will have to wait for the corona vaccine because from May 1, there will be no vaccination in the State. It is worth mentioning that the Bihar government had demanded one crore doses of vaccine but the vaccine could not be made available. For this reason, now the people above 18 years in the State will have to wait for the vaccine. However, people over the age of 18 are still getting registered for vaccination but the option of slot booking is not available on the website. According to Manoj Kumar, Special Secretary, Health Department, Bihar, there are 5.47 crore people in the age group of 18 to 44 in the State. After estimating the number, one crore vaccines were ordered to Serum Institute of India, Pune.
MADHYA PRADESH
In Madhya Pradesh also, the vaccination of people above 18 years of age will not start from May 1. In view of the shortage of vaccines, the vaccination programme has been postponed for the time being. The vaccination will start only after May 3. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has said that the State Government had given orders for both Covishield and Covaxin vaccines but both the companies are expected to supply the jabs by May 3 only. In such a situation, vaccination is expected to start only after this.
Read: COVID-19: America to send CDS team to US embassy in New Delhi
JHARKHAND
The vaccination drive for those who are 18 plus will not start in Jharkhand from May 1 due to the shortage of vaccine jabs. Health Minister Banna Gupta said that the Central government has announced vaccination of the people above 18 years of age from May 1 but the vaccine has not been made available. According to the State Health Minister, orders of 50 lakh jabs of vaccine have been placed by the Jharkhand government, but the manufacturing companies have already given up. They say that the vaccine cannot be made available till May 15, because the challenge is still to meet the orders of the Central government. Until the Central government’s order is met, it will be difficult to provide vaccine jabs to the State governments.
CHHATTISGARH
Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singhdev has said that from May 1, people above 18 years of age will not be vaccinated as the state government does not have enough vaccine jabs. Singhdev said that even if we collect one and a half lakh vaccines, it is impossible to apply vaccines to one crore people. According to the Health Minister, the state government has ordered for 25–25 lakh vaccines to the companies manufacturing Covaxin and Covishield, but they have told the state government that they would be able to provide vaccines by the end of July. Only then we would be able to start the vaccination process. If we start the vaccination, we will have to stop the process midway for want of jabs.
HIMACHAL PRADESH
In Himachal Pradesh, the number of people between 18 years and 45 years is about 31 lakh. According to the spokesperson of the Health Department of the state government, the order for 73 lakh doses of vaccines has been given to the vaccine company, which will cost about Rs 400 crore.
Read: Indian Navy launches Op Samudra Setu-II for shipment of oxygen-filled containers to India
ODISHA
The Odisha government is also not certain about starting the vaccination of 18 years plus people from May 1. The government has attributed this to the lack of corona vaccine jabs in the State. For want of vaccine jabs, the vaccination has been completely stopped in five districts out of 30 districts of the State. According to an official of the Health Department, for the second dose of vaccine to the beneficiaries in the state, 6.3 lakh doses are currently required, but only 1.1 lakh doses are available with the State.
KARNATAKA
Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar has said that the vaccination campaign for people older than 18 years from May 1 may be delayed as the vaccines have not yet arrived. According to the Health Minister, the State has ordered 10 million doses of the vaccine to Serum Institute in Pune but the official news is that they are not ready to give us the vaccine as per the schedule. He has requested those who have registered on the CoWin portal for vaccination to avoid going to the vaccination centre on May 1.
TELANGANA
The Health Minister of Telangana has also made it clear that due to lack of vaccine, the vaccination of people between 18 years and 44 years will not start in the State from May 1. In Telangana, 1.75 crore people are to be given vaccines, but the vaccination campaign will start only when appropriate doses of vaccines are made available.
KERALA
In Kerala as well, the cases of corona infection are increasing rapidly. The Kerala government has also ordered one crore vaccines -- 70 lakh Covishield and 3 million Covaxin doses – which will cost Rs 483 crore. The Kerala government has also decided to give free vaccines to people in the age group of 18 years and 44 years. But Chief Minister P Vijayan has made it clear that vaccination will be done only when the vaccine jabs are available. In such a situation, the vaccination campaign for people aged between 18 and 44 will not start in Kerala from May 1.
GOA
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has also said that the vaccination campaign will be started for people between 18 years and 44 years of age when the State gets vaccine doses. Sawant said that the Goa government has ordered five lakh doses of Covishield vaccine from Serum Institute of India.
ASSAM
The vaccination campaign for the people above 18 years of age will not start in Assam from May 1. According to Dr Lakshmanan, Director of the National Health Mission, Assam, the people over 18 years of age will be vaccinated in the State only after the vaccine jabs are supplied to the State.
RAJASTHAN
In Rajasthan, the vaccination campaign for the people above 18 years of age will start from May 1, but some changes have been made in it. Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that under this campaign, from May 1, Saturday, people between 35 and 40 years of age will be vaccinated. First this campaign will be run in the 13 most infected districts of Rajasthan.
GUJARAT
In Gujarat as well, the people over 18 years of age will be vaccinated but it will be done in a phased manner. First of all, this vaccination campaign will be started in the 10 most affected districts of the state from May 1. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has announced this.
HARYANA
In Haryana, 37,30,302 people have been vaccinated so far. The state government has ordered for five million doses of vaccines but these have not arrived yet. According to the order of the Central government, the state government will start the third phase of vaccination for which the vaccine jabs available for the people aged above 45 years will be used.
TAMIL NADU
According to the new guidelines, the Tamil Nadu government will not be able to start vaccination for the age group above 18 years. The state government was supposed to get the vaccine doses from the Central government. It has not yet been received. However, the process of applying for vaccination to those above 45 years of age will continue. Currently, six lakh doses are available with the State government. As of April 29, 57, 69, 331 people have been vaccinated. State Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan has informed that the state government has submitted a demand for one and a half crore vaccine supplements.
ANDHRA PRADESH
The Andhra Pradesh government had placed an order with the vaccine-making company but the supply has not been received yet. So it is difficult for those above 18 years of age to start vaccinating from Saturday. It is however being hoped that vaccination will start from June.
UTTARAKHAND
It is difficult to see the vaccination of 18 plus age groups in Uttarakhand from Saturday. Actually, the consignment of vaccines has not reached Uttarakhand yet. The state government is talking to the nodal officers associated with it at the Centre. At present, the vaccine has not reached Uttarakhand.
UTTAR PRADESH
There is no consignment of vaccines for those aged above 18 years to be given from May 1 in Uttar Pradesh. However, the state government has said that the government has ordered one crore vaccine jabs out of which only 20000 vaccines have been received. Hence, the introduction of the third phase will be started only in seven districts.
WEST BENGAL
In West Bengal, from May 1, those above 18 years of age will not be able to get vaccinated. However, the government has cleared that when the state gets vaccine jabs, only then the people in this age group will be given the vaccine.