Vax shortage to continue for two more months in Telangana: Chief secretary

HYDERABAD: Blaming the Centre for shortage of vaccines, chief secretary Somesh Kumar said while the state requires several lakhs of doses, the Centre has allocated only 3.90 lakh vaccines this month. Going by the current allocations, the shortage may continue in May and June, the CS said.
Vaccine supply is now under the domain of the Centre, which allocates to the states. Though one of the vaccine manufacturer is in Hyderabad, the allocation has to be done by the Centre. “The chief minister also wrote to the Centre for more allocation and even we tried to speak to vaccine manufacturers in other countries,” he said.
The government planned to vaccinate people aged between 18 and 44 years from May 1. “For 1.70 crore population of that age group, we need 3.40 crore doses (two doses). Due to non-availability of the stocks, the government is continuing vaccination programmes only for those aged above 45,” Somesh Kumar said.
He said the government has stopped walk-in vaccination due to short supplies. “This is because shortage of vaccines and heavy rush at the government hospitals and PHCs where there are chances of further spread of the coronavirus cases. Now, only jabs are being given on slot booking,” he said.