VIJAYAWADA: With only about one lakh doses of vaccine in hand, the health department in Andhra Pradesh decided to use it all on the first day of the Tika Utsav, which commenced on Sunday.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of Tika Utsav, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy set a target of six lakh vaccines per day for the four-day special drive and wrote a letter to the Prime Minister seeking 25 lakh doses.
However, with no stock received from the Centre, the state administration was forced to do with what was available in hand. Out of 13 districts in the state, the Anantapur district postponed Tika Utsava for lack of vaccines. Joint Collector Siri said that the administration is all set to administer vaccines at 108 centres in the district as soon as the fresh stock arrives.
Meanwhile, in most of the districts including Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapanatm, East and West Godavari districts, Prakasam, Nellore and others, the available stock of vaccines is being administered and it has been limited to urban areas only. In rural areas, the vaccination will be taken up once fresh stock is made available. In Krishna and Guntur districts, vaccination has been taken up in a limited number in both urban and rural areas.
However, as there has been no indication as to when the fresh stock would be dispatched to the State from the Centre, health department is worried as to what to do on Monday. Meanwhile, with an increasing number of people coming to vaccine session centres, a special drive was conducted on Saturday and a total 2.27 lakh vaccines were administered. It was the first time that over two lakh vaccines were administered in a day in the State.