HYDERABAD: With the State Health Department pushing the interval between two vaccine doses from a lower limit of 12 weeks to 14 weeks, the wait for receiving the second jab will only get longer in Telangana. Now, eligible persons can take the second dose only between 14-16 weeks and not between 12-16 weeks, after receiving the first jab, as communicated by the Government of India.
The decision has been taken to ensure that the supply coming from the Centre for the month of July can be used to vaccinate people with the first dose. The State is slated to get nearly 21 lakh doses from the Centre in July, and another seven lakh doses will be procured by private hospitals. Meanwhile, those eligible for the second dose will exceed 30 lakh in July alone.This move will free up some of the limited vaccine stock for those requiring first doses, and push the due dates of second dose recipients to August when the supply will be marginally higher.
18+ to get free jabs from July 3
Along with delaying the second dose time slot, the State has also decided to open up free vaccinations for all candidates above the age of 18, in government centres from July 3. Until last week, only those above the age of 30 were eligible to get free vaccine shots. With this, the 2.7 crore citizens in Telangana are eligible to get free vaccines.
“In GHMC limits, around 100 Covid-19 vaccination centres will operate to provide first dose for anyone above 18 years, and in other ULBs, nearly 204 government centres will operate. To get jabs, one has to enrol their name on CoWIN portal,” said a statement from Director of Public Health. In rural areas, first doses will be given across 636 PHCs in walk-in mode. As on June 29, nearly 93.27 lakh citizens in Telangana have got their first dose of vaccine.
State witnesses 917 new cases and 10 deaths
Telangana, on Wednesday, recorded 917 cases of Covid-19. Ten deaths were also reported on the same day. With this, the State’s active cases stand at 13,388, after 1,006 individuals reported recovery on Wednesday. While GHMC limits saw 108 cases, Nalgonda witnessed 71 cases. Telangana has so far seen nearly 6.23 lakh cases