5.5 cr doses required to cover Telangana State populace

Hyderabad: It has been not more than two weeks since Telangana allowed vaccination for the 18-44 age group at private hospitals, workplaces, and those who wish to organise vaccination drives in their communities.

The CoWIN national database for vaccination suggests that the age group of 18-44 is the most vaccinated group. Believe it or not! Around 4.89 lakh people in the age group of 18-44 were vaccinated in less than two weeks.

It is the concern of the Health department that many people over the age of 44 with most of them having comorbidities are still not vaccinated or waiting for the second dose.

There are around 2.75 crore beneficiaries for the vaccine in Telangana for which 5.5 crore doses are required to cover them with two doses. A little over 65.7 lakh received the vaccines until Tuesday in the State.

According to the CoWIN data in the State, the number of people who received the first dose until June 8 is 52.59 lakh and those who received two doses is 14.36 lakh.

The Telangana State government has been receiving vaccines from two companies -- Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech. An official of the Health Department said that the supply is not enough, and it would continue to be the same till the end of July. All eyes are now on the procurement of vaccines by the Central government for the States.

Stating that the vaccination of people at high risk would continue to be a priority, Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivas Rao said that the Health department will soon complete vaccinating the high-risk groups in a week and thereafter beneficiaries in the non-high-risk groups would be covered for the first dose.