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It is reassuring that the stock of vaccines available to States and Union Territories has not fallen below 2.5 crore doses in the last three weeks, said Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday.
According to the CoWIN dashboard, the country administered more than 70.19 lakh vaccines till 7:00 pm on Thursday, with Madhya Pradesh administering the maximum shots at 15.33 lakh, followed by Uttar Pradesh (6.41 lakh), Rajasthan (5.25 lakh) and Gujarat (5.20 lakh).
“Till now, we have administered 46.69 crore of the first dose and 13.70 crore of the second dose. So far, a total of 60 crore vaccine doses have been administered,” said Bhushan.
Bhushan, however, reminded that as we are still in the middle of the second wave, it is critical to adopt all Covid measures during the upcoming festival season.
“Population density is causing a surge in Covid cases. Vaccine is not disease-modifying and it is not disease-preventing, so it is crucial to continue usage of masks...vaccination is a prerequisite for mass gathering,” said NK Arora, who is heads the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).
Vaccine certificates
On the question of vaccine certificates handed out to those who were not inoculated in Telangana, Bhushan said the Ministry has shared these media reports to the State government. However, he added that CoWIN is foolproof and if people generate certificates through some other platform, then the government will take appropriate action.
On the preparedness for the likely third wave, Bhushan said that public health facilities must have their own captive oxygen-generation plants. “More than 1,500 such plants have been sanctioned and around 900 of them have already been commissioned...the government is providing funds to the States under the emergency fund of ₹23,123 crore to procure oxygen tanks and install them in hospitals.”
On the issue of vaccinating children, Bhushan said the standing committee on NTAGI will make recommendations on whether all of them need to be inoculated or only those with comorbidities.
Based on the recommendations, a final call would be taken, he said. On the availability of Zydus Cadila vaccine – ZyCoV-D – which received Emergency Use Authorisation, he said it would be available from October 1 and that the government is in talks with the company.
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