COVID Vaccines For 18-45 Yrs Set To Delay Across States; Kerala Likely In June, Andhra In Sept

From May 1, everyone in India who is above the age of 18 is eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine and there is a mad rush to register for them on Co-WIN. But it is unlikely that the majority of the population in the relaxed age bracket will get the vaccine any time soon.

That is because states just don't have the vaccines to even administer to those above the age of 45, let alone opening it further to more people.

AFP

Vaccinating people responsibility now on states

Unlike in the previous phases, the responsibility of vaccinating those between 18-45 is mostly on the states while the Centre will continue to supply the doses for free vaccination for those above 45.

But states have been struggling to keep their vaccination drives on due to the shortage in supply.

So far Gujarat seems to be the only state that can open up vaccines for 18-45 in May.

According to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, COVID-19 vaccination drive for the 18-45 age group in the state will start latest by May 15.

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"Vaccination for 18-45 age group will begin once we get substantial doses of vaccines from the pharma companies, which is likely to happen soon. Latest by May 15, the drive will start as we expect to get vaccine doses any time before that date," Rupani said.

"Earlier, we had ordered 1.5 crore doses of vaccine, but now we have increased it to 2.5 crore doses. We have placed orders of two crore doses of Covishield vaccines from Serum Institute of India and 50 lakh doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech," he added.

There is so much uncertainty in other states about the rollout of vaccines.

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Several states don't have enough doses

Several states, including Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, also said they do not have sufficient doses of vaccine for the inoculation of those in the 18-45 age group.

In Kerala, Health Minister KK Shailaja has said that there is no enough vaccination stock to inoculate all those above 18 years. She said that the second dose vaccine is pending for most of those above 45 and 60 yrs of age and the state has only 3-4 lakh vaccine doses.

She said that though the state has placed orders with the vaccine makers, the shipment will only arrive by late May or early June.

AFP

In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that the COVID-19 vaccination for people between 18 and 45 years is expected to start only in September, once the vaccination for people above 45 years is completed. ¡°It will take four months to complete the vaccination for people in the age group of 18-45, which means they will be vaccinated by the end of January 2022,¡± he said.

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In Delhi too, things are no different and on Thursday state Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that they don't have vaccines for now.

"We don't have vaccines as of now. We have made requests to the company regarding vaccines, we will tell you when it comes," Jain said. He also said the manufacturers are yet to provide a schedule of vaccine supply to the Delhi government.