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Phase-3 of India’s vaccination drive started on May 1 with a majority of States complaining of non-availability and restricting their coverage either to the 45+ group or staggering it for the new age group of 18-45 in phases.
The biggest concern remained the laggard and the most populous States such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which are right at the bottom with just 4.46 and 4.81 per cent, respectively, of their population inoculated.
In UP, where the number of daily deaths is the highest at 332, after Maharashtra and Delhi, the vaccination coverage for the 18-45 age group has been restricted to just 85 centres in seven badly-affected districts. The State has 2,500 vaccination centres altogether.
Laggards
According to Additional Chief Secretary-Information, UP, Navneet Sahgal, the new 18-45 category will be vaccinated along with the 45+ group after registration. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath rolled out the third phase which, the State had clarified a day in advance, would include the new category of 18-45 age group in the seven badly affected districts alone.
In Bihar, which added over 15,850 cases in the last 24 hours, the Phase-3 roll-out was merely symbolic. The State is short of vaccines. According to the State Health Minister, Mangal Pandey, the 18+ vaccination drive will start when the vaccines are supplied. “Bihar will get around 16 lakh vaccine doses in May — 11.89 lakh doses of Covishield and 4.14 lakh doses of Covaxin,” he said.
Insufficient stocks
Like UP, Gujarat also rolled out Phase-3 in ten highly-infected districts. While young people turned out in large numbers to get vaccinated, vaccine stocks were reportedly insufficient.
Gujarat had reportedly received 3 lakh vaccine doses on Friday night for vaccinating the 18-44 age-group.
In Maharashtra, too, availability of the vaccine was an issue. Immediate past president of Indian Medical Association Avinash Bhondwe told BusinessLine that vaccine availability was a challenge for the 18-44 age group . In places such as Pune, many people could not get even themselves registered on the Co-Win app.
Ditto with West Bengal, which has sought three croredoses from the Centre. Of these, two crore are to be used in vaccinating one crore people at State government hospitals, while the rest will be given to private hospitals for vaccinating at least 50 lakh individuals.
In Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and Jharkhand, the State governments maintained that the vaccine manufacturers have not given any assurance on the supply. However, while Punjab and Jharkhand, put Phase-3 on hold, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan went ahead with vaccinating the new category.
In Chhattisgarh, the daily death rate of 269, is alarming for a relatively less populated State. Talking to BusinessLine , Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo said the State has kept its focus on vaccination which at 16.55 per cent is higher than the national average of 9.24 per cent.
Down South
Tamil Nadu started Phase-3 using 3 lakh doses of Covishield. The drive was symbolic in Karnataka, with its 6,000 centres needing to procure around 3 lakh doses over and above the Central allocation.
According to Apollo Group of hospitals spokesperson, they administer both the vaccines and Rs 200 is the administration price. The vaccine cost is in addition to purchasing from manufacturers and govt supplies, and rates are yet to come. Both the manufacturers have announced their prices, and they are in the public domain.
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