Nearly 2 crore beneficiaries in 18-44 age group to get jabs from Friday

Ranchi: The state government will begin vaccinating people in the age group of 18-44 from May 14, chief minister Hemant Soren said on Monday during a marathon virtual meeting with the MLAs and MPs of Palamu and Santhal-Pargana commissionaries to discuss ways of tackling the pandemic.
“We have decided to start the next phase of vaccination for those above 18 years from May 14,” Hemant said while appealing to the legislators to use their influence to encourage the beneficiaries in their respective constituencies to take the jab. “This is the only way through which we can safeguard our people,” the CM said.
While the Centre had allowed those above 18 years to take the shot from May 1, Jharkhand, like other states, couldn’t begin the inoculation process owing to a shortage of vaccines.
There are about 1.97 crore people in the age group of 18-44. Last month, the state government had placed an order with the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for 25 lakh vials each of Covishield and Covaxin, respectively. While the state is yet to receive the full consignment, sources in the health department told TOI that they have got a portion of it in the last two days from the Centre, which they will use in the next phase. “Close to 3 lakh vials of fresh stocks have arrived recently while some more are expected to come in the next few days. The full modalities of vaccination and session sites are being worked out and will be notified soon. The idea is to start the inoculation process gradually with limited session sites and expand thereafter,” a health department official said.
It is, however, not clear if vaccination will resume in private hospitals for the government on May 5 had asked them to stop the process owing to the depleting stock of vaccines.
As per the Union government’s new procurement policy, private hospitals can vaccinate people by procuring the vials on their own but so far, no major private hospital in Ranchi has placed any order with the manufacturers owing to a long waiting list.
While the government centres are administering the vaccine, many are apprehensive to get the jabs there owing to a fear of contracting the disease as many of those centres are overcrowded.
Meanwhile, the state government had in the past announced to vaccinate everyone free of cost but on Monday, the CM did not mention anything in this regard.