Nine states, 2 UTs defer 18 and above vaccination drive; staggered launch in Rajasthan, UP, Gujarat

At least nine states and two UTs, including Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal – have deferred the Covid-19 vaccination drive for the 18-44 years age group scheduled to begin from Saturday citing non-availability of vaccines.

States such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat on Friday announced a staggered launch of the vaccination drive for those above 18 years of age by focusing on high-burden districts.

The third phase of the Covid-19 vaccination drive is scheduled to begin on Saturday with the onus on state governments and private hospitals to administer the vaccine to those in the 18-44 years age group, while the Centre focusing its energies on vaccinating the “scientifically selected” priority group of 45 years and above.

Authorities in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Puducherry and Delhi said that the vaccination drive will not begin from May 1 as they vaccines were yet to be delivered to them.

Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have announced that the vaccination drive would begin on Saturday but the focus would be on districts with high disease burden.

Also read: States run out of Covid-19 vaccines, nationwide inoculation drive delayed

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the vaccination drive for 18 years and above would begin in 10 districts – Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Kutch, Mehsana, Bharuch and Gandhinagar – which have been reporting high number of Covid-19 cases.

Uttar Pradesh officials announced that the vaccination drive would begin in seven districts of the state that have 9,000 or more active cases of Covid-19.

Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that the vaccination drive would begin in 11 districts that have high disease prevalance, but the state would first administer doses to those in the 35-44 age group.

Also read: Karnataka reports 48,296 new Covid-19 cases in highest single-day spike so far

Haryana's Home and Health Minister Anil Vij was quoted by PTI as saying that the vaccination for the 18-45 years category in the state will be started from Saturday.

At least two private hospital chains – Apollo Hospitals and Fortis Healthcare – announced the start of the vaccination drive at select centres for the 18-44 category.

“Instead of waiting till tomorrow (and disappoint people), I wish to clarify (now) that we are unsure when and how much out of 1.5 crore doses of vaccine sought by Tamil Nadu will arrive,” Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said in Chennai.