Telangana lags in 15-17 age group Covid vaccine administration

Telangana has completed the first dose of only 5 per cent of the target 18,41,000 beneficiaries till the end of Tuesday

Telangana is lagging behind many states in the administration of Covid-19 vaccine to teenagers.

The TRS government was able till Wednesday to give the first dose of Covaxin to only 2.25 lakh teenagers in the 15-17 age group, while in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh 12.93 lakh teenagers received their first jab, data available on Cowin portal shows.

In Bihar, the compliance figure is 7.41 lakh while in Karnataka it is 11.17 lakh. All these states, following the central government guidelines, have started the under 18 years age group vaccination on Monday.

Even going by the figures handed by the state health authorities, Telangana has completed the first dose of only 10 per cent of the target 18,41,000 beneficiaries till the end of Tuesday. That is 1,87,538 teenagers covered in two days. In comparison, Andhra Pradesh has administered the first dose to 4.92 lakh teenagers on Monday, the first day itself.

Also Read | Over 1 crore teens vaccinated against Covid-19 in India: Govt

Phone calls made and queries posed on WhatsApp to Telangana’s public health director Dr Srinivasa Rao, the only official “authorised” by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao administration to divulge any information related to Covid-19, went unanswered.

The dawdling on the part of the health department goes unexplained as according to the daily Covid-19 bulletin, the state has a stock of 16,01,645 Covaxin doses available with it as of Tuesday. The Bharat Biotech made immunogen is the only Covid-19 vaccine being given to under 18-year-olds, at present.

“We are all involved in Covid-19 mitigation but since we should all be on the same page on all aspects related to the pandemic, no other official is authorised to speak,” a senior IAS officer in the health department told DH.

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