Why a May 1 roll out for COVID-19 vaccines looks patchy

New Delhi, Apr 28: Even as the registration for the COVID-19 vaccine for all adults begins today, there is a cloud over the jab being available on May 1. There are different versions on the availability of the vaccine and this has made the May 1 roll out patchy in nature.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra's health minister, Rajesh Tope said that they were informed by Serum Institute that the doses of the Covishield will be supplied only by May 20. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Rajasthan too had earlier expressed doubts over the May 1 rollout of the vaccine.

Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh said that they were expecting more doses of the vaccine in order to account for the additional number of recipients. The challenge regarding the availability is because the second doses of the vaccine are due. Punjab's health minister, Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the state has around 250,000 doses at hand for the 45 plus category and those eligible for the second dose. He also said that they are likely to run out of doses in the next three days. The existing dose cannot be used at the Centre's supply has remained very limited, he also said.

There was a shortage reported in Tamil Nadu as well. In Chennai temporary vaccination centres were opened to avoid crowding, but due to a shortage in supply chain of Covaxin, it was decided that these centres would only administer doses for those who are eligible for their second shot.

There was a rush in Kerala as well, where people eligible for the second dose were seen queuing up.

The Union Government has however denied that there was a shortage and in a statement said that at least 15 crore doses were given to the states for free since the drive began. The government also said that at least 8 million doses are in the pipeline.

"Government of India has so far provided more than 15 crore vaccine doses (156,526,140) to States/UTs Free of Cost. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 146,478,983 dose," the statement said.

The government said that on day 102 of the drive, more than 14.77 crore people have been vaccinated.

The cumulative number of COVID19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 14,77,27,054 as per the 8 pm provisional report released on Tuesday. These include 93,47,103 Healthcare Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 61,05,159 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 1,22,17,762 Frontline Workers (FLWs) (1st dose), 65,23,520 FLWs (2nd dose), 5,02,34,186 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (1st Dose), 29,18,305 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (2nd dose), 5,10,62,959 for above 60 years (1st Dose) and 93,18,060 for above 60 years (2nd Dose), the government also said.