VIJAYAWADA: The stage is set to administer the first dose of Covishield vaccine to high-risk categories in the age group of above 45 years in the next three days from Monday. The decision has been taken in view of the limited stock of vaccine available with the State now.
Employees of APSRTC, Railways, banks and media personnel will be given priority in vaccination.
“These people are in regular contact with the public. Hence, they are at high risk. So, they are being given priority in vaccination,” Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal told the media on Sunday. The Centre has supplied 76,49,960 doses of Covid vaccine to AP so far. The State has procured 11,64,120 doses of vaccine on its own in May.
“We have administered 78,78,604 doses of vaccine to people so far. In all, 23,38,719 people have been administered two doses and 32,01,022 have taken the first dose. By the end of May, we have to administer the second dose of Covaxin to 1,18,129 people,” he said.
For the entire May, the State has been allocated 14,15,420 doses of vaccine. Of the total allocation, 11,65,365 doses of vaccine has been sent and 2,50,060 doses are pending. For the first fortnight of June, the Centre has allocated 7,68,010 doses to the State. AP has to get 10,18,000 doses of vaccine from the Centre by June 15. With the vaccine stock of 3,29,000 doses with the State, a total of 13.5 lakh doses from the Centre will be available till mid June,” he said.
For June, the Centre has allowed the State to procure 11,45,540 doses of Covishield and 3,40,680 doses of Covaxin, the Principal Health Secretary said.
Orders for the vaccine, will be placed on Monday. But the manufacturers have informed the State that the ordered doses can only be supplied after June 15, Singhal said. As there is no stock of Covaxin till June 15, the first dose of vaccine will not be administered. Only Covishield will be administered to the high-risk people as the first dose. Explaining the reason for lack of demand for the second dose of Covishield, he said the gap to get the second dose has been revised from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks by the Centre.
On vaccination of people in the age group of 18-45, the Principal Secretary said the State government has made its stance clear. No vaccine to other groups till all those aged above 45 years are vaccinated, he said.
Justifying Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to stop supply of vaccine to private hospitals, Singhal said if the vaccine is freely available, people may be given a choice to get themselves vaccinated either at a government hospital free of cost or at a private hospital by bearing the cost. As the vaccine is not freely available now, priority should be given to government hospitals in supplying it. There is every likelihood of hoarding the vaccine by some unscrupulous private hospitals to sell it at a premium taking advantage of its shortage if permitted, the Principal Secretary said.
On the number of black fungus cases, he said there are more than what was suspected a couple of days ago and they will submit a report to the Chief Minister at a high-level review meeting on Covid on Monday. About 1,000 vials of injection to treat black fungus cases have been sent to districts, he said.
Referring to B Anandaiah’s alleged Ayurvedic medicine for Covid, he said the study report from the Ayush Department is yet to be submitted. “According to preliminary lab reports, no harmful substances are found in the medicine. Its efficacy in treating Covid is yet to be ascertained. However, it is not being treated as an Ayurvedic medicine, but a country medicine. Hence, there is no need for any control on the herbal medicine,” he said.