NEW DELHI: Only about 2 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses may be available for the 18-44-year age group across India this month, an affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court revealed.
In other words, just one dose is available for 30 beneficiaries, since the population of this age group in India is about 60 crore.
It explains why people are finding it difficult to book their vaccination shots this month.
The affidavit shows that 1.5 crore doses of Covishield and 50 lakh doses of Covaxin are available in May for “other than Govt of India channel” in May.
Under the Centre’s decentralised and liberalised vaccination policy, which came into effect on May 1, it will procure 50% of the total Covid vaccine supplies directly, which will then be shared with states to inoculate the population over 45 years.
Fifty per cent of the supplies, however, will have to be procured directly by states and private hospitals, which can then be used to administer shots to the 18-44-year age group, under the revised vaccination strategy.
The document shows that the highest allocation of about 34.38 lakh vaccine doses have been made for Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra (over 18 lakh) and Bihar (about 16 lakh).
Officials in the Union health ministry said that the allocations under this category had been worked out on a state-wise population of 18-44 years pro rata and it had already been conveyed to the state at the end of April.
Experts harp on equitable vax allocation
As per the details earlier shared by the Union government, it has booked a total of 16 crore Covishield and Covaxin doses which will be delivered between May-July and will be used for vaccinating only the priority population.
Experts meanwhile stressed that unless vaccines are distributed in an equitable manner, India will not be able to get out of the pandemic.
“No one is safe until everyone is protected, if access to vaccines is left to be dictated by market forces and digital gate keeping, a technology enabled human disaster is in the making,” said health policy specialist Oommen John.
Public health researcher Oommen C Kurian emphasised on the need of covering the most vulnerable first, given the limited supply of vaccines.
“Given the supply constraints, the government should have wo rked hard towards fighting vaccine hesitancy among the high-risk categories rather than going for the easy, populist alternative of opening up vaccinations for relatively better off 18-44-year-olds,” he said.
Prioritise vaccinating those due for second dose: Centre to states
The Centre appealed to states on Tuesday to prioritise vaccinating those due for second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and reserve at least 70 per cent of the shots supplied from the central pool for the purpose.
States have also been urged to minimise wastage of vaccine doses, the health ministry said in a statement.
All wastage more than the national average hereafter is to be adjusted from the subsequent allocations to that state or union territory.
The urgent need to address a large number of beneficiaries waiting for second dose of vaccine was stressed in a meeting held by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Dr R S Sharma, the Chairman of Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to Combat COVID-19, with state officials to review the status of COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday.
States were urged to "ensure all beneficiaries who have taken the first dose are prioritised for the second doses", the ministry said in the statement.
In this regard, states can reserve at least 70 per cent of the vaccines supplied to them from the Government of India channel for second dose vaccination and the remaining 30 per cent for first dose.
"This however is indicative. States have the liberty to enhance this to as much as 100 per cent. State-wise numbers on CoWIN have been shared with states for their planning purposes."
"The states were asked to undertake awareness campaign for reinforcing the importance of complete vaccination with two doses of the vaccine," the statement said.
Presenting details of states who have ensured high coverage of priority groups (like population aged 45+, frontline workers and healthcare workers) and the others, the Union Health secretary urged states to ensure that priority groups are vaccinated.
States have been informed in a transparent manner in advance about the COVID vaccines being provided to them from Govt of India channel.
The visibility for the forthcoming fortnight is conveyed to them in advance to enable better and more effective planning by them, the statement stated.
The next allocation for the period 15-31th May will be conveyed to them on May 14.
It was pointed out that states can utilize the information regarding dose allocation for the next 15 days to plan their vaccination sessions.
States were also urged to minimise vaccine wastage, the statement said.
While the overall levels have considerably reduced, Union Health Secretary pointed that there were many states which still needed to substantially reduce the wastage.
It was suggested to states and UTs to retrain and reorient vaccinators to ensure judicious usage of the vaccines.
"All wastage more than the national average hereafter is to be adjusted from the subsequent allocations to that state and UT," the statement said.
In this context, it was also pointed out that certain states are able to report a negative wastage because the well-trained health workers can extract maximum doses per vial than what is otherwise generally earmarked.
States were also briefed about procurement from the 'Other than Government of India' (OGoI) channel which has been opened in the Liberalised Phase-III Strategy of Vaccination.
In view of the payments pending from states to the private vaccine manufacturers, the states were advised to constitute a dedicated team at state level of 2 or 3 senior officers to coordinate with vaccine manufacturers on a daily basis and secure State Govt. supplies promptly, the statement said.
This team is to also coordinate with private hospitals to facilitate their procurement thereby maintaining the momentum of the overall vaccination exercise in the State.
The CoWIN platform is also being modified to better reflect the changing needs of the vaccination exercise, the statement said.
The states can download a second dose due report to better plan the completion of vaccination of the target groups, the statement said.
The District Immunization Officer and COVID Vaccination Centre Manager can increase the session capacity according to demand and can also visualise the target group in their upcoming sessions.
Beneficiaries without relevant photo ID cards like senior citizens at old-age homes, etc., can also be registered, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has gone past 17.51 crore, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.
It said 4,74,629 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine on Tuesday and cumulatively 30,39,287 across 30 states and union territories since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 17,51,71,482 according to the 8 pm provisional report, the ministry said.
The total of 17,51,71,482 include 95,81,872 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 65,38,656 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 1,41,45,083 frontline workers (FLWs) who have received the first dose, 79,50,430 FLWs who have taken the second dose, and 30,39,287 in the age group of 18-44 years who have received the first dose.
Besides, 5,58,70,091 and 78,17,926 beneficiaries over 45 to 60 years old have been administered the first and second dose while, 5,39,54,858 and 1,62,73,279 beneficiaries above 60 years have taken the first and the second dose.
As on day-116 of the vaccination drive (May 11), total 23,85,092 vaccine doses were given.
It said 10,65,634 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose and 13,19,458 beneficiaries received the second dose of vaccine according to the provisional report till 8 pm.
Final reports would be completed for the day by late night.
(With PTI Inputs)