Lucknow/Guwahati/Ahmedabad: The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday started the first phase of vaccination for the 18-44 age group in seven districts, while in Gujarat, the Covid jab was administrated for the age group in 10 districts.
However, Assam government could not rollout the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive due to non-receipt of vaccine supply from the Centre, a top NHM official said.
An Uttar Pradesh government spokesperson said Adityanath had sent his state aircraft to Hyderabad to get the batch of vaccines for the inoculation programme for people in the 18-plus category.
The districts where the vaccination started on Saturday are Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Bareilly.
“From May 1, vaccination for people between 18-44 years will also start. In the first phase, which will be extended to other cities also, the government will start the vaccination in seven districts that have more than 9,000 active cases,” Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad had said on Friday.
The software made for this exercise will be tested in these districts before being used elsewhere, Prasad said.
He, however, did not elaborate on the availability of vaccines in the state and the number of registered beneficiaries.
The state government, which decided to vaccinate all those above 18 years, had on Thursday said it will float global tenders to purchase four to five crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
“The state government has decided to float global tenders for carrying the vaccination drive effectively. Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech have been given orders of 50 lakh vaccine doses each. A global tender should also be floated to purchase four to five crore vaccine doses. This should be taken forward,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said.
So far, over 1.23 crore vaccine doses have been administered to people in the state. It includes 1.01 crore people who have taken the first dose and over 22.33 lakh who have taken the second dose as well, Prasad had said.
Also read: India has 6.3 crore doses of Covid vaccines, could double by July, Centre tells SC
Assam to get 5 lakh vaccines for 18+ people
The process for the third phase of vaccination, as part of the nationwide drive to inoculate younger people, “will commence from the moment the corresponding number of vaccines are received from the Government of India”, National Health Mission director S Laxmanan told PTI.
The Centre has sanctioned five lakh COVID-19 vaccines for the 18+ age group and the process for securing them is in progress, Laxmanan informed.
Assam Health Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma has tweeted, “Assam gets 5 lakh + #COVID19Vaccine by GOI (371480 Covishield; 128830 Covaxin) for 18+ people. We’re procuring it immediately through funds of Assam Arogya Nidhi.”
“Our vaccination will be FREE FOR all citizens”, Sarma added.
However, the ongoing inoculation process for those above the age of 44 was continuing in Assam, the NHM Mission director said.
As many as 24,66,321 people have been vaccinated in the state so far, Laxmanan said.
Vaccination begins in 10 districts in Gujarat
People in the age group of 18 to 45 queued up outside the inoculation centres in 10 districts of Gujarat.
The drive began in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Kutch, Mehsana, Bharuch and Gandhinagar districts, which are most affected most by the pandemic, officials said.
The drive was launched in limited number of districts as Gujarat has received only three lakh doses from the vaccine manufacturers as against the order of 2.5 crore doses placed by the state government, they said.
Authorities ensured that social distancing is maintained as people in this age group started arriving at the centres in 10 districts for free vaccination.
A beneficiary at a centre in Ahmedabad said, “Vaccination is the only way to overcome coronavirus pandemic. I would like to appeal to the people to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest.”
Confusion prevailed at some centres as people arrived in large numbers.
“This chaos is because of people and not the system. Considering the pandemic situation, people are eager to get themselves vaccinated. Vaccination is important to control the pandemic…People should not spread rumours and get vaccinated at the earliest,” another beneficiary said.
Only those people who had registered themselves on the CoWIN portal were allowed entry and given a token at the centre on the basis of SMS received by them specifying the date, place and time for vaccination, officials said.
Ahmedabad local authorities said they have set up 76 vaccination centres at government and private schools, community halls, temple premises, among othes, for the exercise.
Rajkot health officer Pankaj Rathod said the process to vaccinate people from the 18-45 age group started at 48 different points across the city’s 21 urban health centres.
“On the first day, around 10,000 beneficiaries have registered for the vaccination across 48 centres in Rajkot,” he said.
In Vadodara, around 7,000 beneficiaries from this age group are likely to be vaccinated during the day, officials said.
According to officials, the state government is in touch with the two vaccine makers- Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India – to get more number of doses.
Gujarat will get 11 lakh doses in May, they said.
The drive will be rolled out in more number of districts as per the availability of doses, officials said.
Also read: ‘We’re helpless,’ says Delhi’s Batra Hospital as 8 Covid patients die of oxygen shortage