HYDERABAD: An estimated 1.80 crore people in Telangana out of 2.73 crore eligible beneficiaries are yet to receive even a single dose of vaccine worrying officials at a time when experts have called for mass vaccination before a possible third wave later this year.
With the vaccine stocks depleting fast in the state, first dose vaccination drive is likely to come to a halt in July at government vaccination centres as the state would now have to give priority to second doses.
At the moment, the state has 5.39 lakh doses and another 10.76 lakh are expected to arrive by the end of June.
The state has so far vaccinated close to 96 lakh people, out of which 64 lakh are awaiting the second dose.
With the current level of vaccination, we are consuming 1.5-2 lakh doses every day.
At this rate, the existing stock will last only for a week.
The situation is very dynamic.
Halting the first dose for a while might be necessary unless we get more stocks,” said an official from the state health department.
He said completing the first dose itself is likely to take over four months at this rate.
While an internal meeting has been held on the subject recently, the low availability of stocks was even mentioned in an affidavit submitted by the state health department in the high court on Wednesday.
“In July, another 21 lakh doses are expected, but considering the available vials, the government will still fall short by 2.8 lakh doses to cover beneficiaries awaiting the second jab,” added the official.
People who cannot afford to get vaccinated at private centres, and more importantly beneficiaries in rural areas, will face huge problem, say officials.
Telangana has so far received 88.33 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
Of these, 82.94 lakh were consumed by June 22 itself.
Telangana has planned an aggressive vaccination programme and health officials maintain that given the vaccination capacity, if adequate stocks are available, entire population can be inoculated in next one-and-a-half months.
While the stocks of both vaccines are running low in the government centres, even stocks of Covaxin in private hospitals is low.
“We are trying to save the Covaxin stock for second doses,” said a private hospital source.