Hyderabad: Even as the state is struggling with conducting Covid-19 tests, the drive to vaccinate people is also hitting some roadblocks, primarily because not enough stocks of the vaccines are available with the state health department.
With each passing day, according to officials, the state is making do with lesser vaccine stocks. For instance, on April 26, Telangana state administered 1,87,769 first, and 27,525 second doses of the vaccine to people. But on April 27, these numbers fell to 89,650 and 19,238 respectively.
Several vaccination centres are running short of supplies and we are having to ask people to come again, an official said.
While this is so, there was some confusion whether the fresh wave of administering Covid-19 shots to people in the age band of 18 and 44 years, will take off in the state as expected on May 1. Those who logged in to the portal, cowin.gov.in starting at 4 p.m., on Wednesday, were not provided actual vaccination slots but could register themselves. “The current exercise in opening up the registration is to estimate the demand from this age group for vaccination,” director of health services Dr G. Srinivasa Rao told reporters here at a press conference.
It may be recalled that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had recently announced that everyone in the state will be vaccinated for free. However, as things stand, there is some confusion if the free vaccination will be at the state-run vaccination centres or all vaccination centres in Telangana, and if someone opts to get a shot at a private facility, would they be required to pay for the shot. Currently, Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech said that it would sell each dose to the states at Rs 600 and at Rs 1,200 for private hospitals, while Covishield maker Serum Institute of India today said it would charge Rs 300 per dose to states and Rs 600 per dose to private vaccination facilities.
However, some clear directions on this are expected to come at a meeting expected to be chaired by the Chief Minister on Thursday where he will review the Covid-19 situation in the state. The night curfew imposed in Telangana comes to an end on April 30, and a decision on whether to extend it is also expected to be taken at the meeting.
