Facedwith shortage of Covid vaccines, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singhon Friday deferred Phase III of vaccination of the 18-45 age group, which wasslated to begin on May 1, while disclosing that vaccination at private healthfacilities will remain suspended from Saturday.
PunjabChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday made it clear that due tonon-availability of vaccine, Phase III of vaccination of 18-45 age group cannotbe started as scheduled.
Thechief minister said as the balance of unutilised vaccines had to be returned tothe Government of India by all private health facilities by Friday evening,these facilities would have no vaccines to administer from tomorrow for 45+population, while they could not vaccinate 18-45 age group as they had nosupplies for the same, said the Chief Minister.
TheChief Minister said his government was pursuing the matter of vaccine shortagewith the Centre, as the situation wascritical. The state had received 2 lakh doses but that was not sufficient evento meet the two days requirement of the45+ age group, said Captain Amarinder, while reviewing the Covid vaccinesituation at a virtual meeting.
Thestate government was trying to secure supply for 45+ population from the centreon priority, and was also trying to strategise Phase III vaccination on thebasis of Dr. Gagandeep Kang’s expert group’s interim report, said CaptainAmarinder.
Themeeting was informed that an order for procurement of 30 lakh doses ofCovishield for the age group of 18-45 years was placed with Serum Institute ofIndia on April 26, but the response received was that availability of vaccinewill be known only in 4 weeks’ time. Further, SII had asked the stategovernment to indicate demand for the next 3-4 months, with advance payments tobe made. They had informed the government that supplies would be delivered in aphased manner, every month.
Asper the Health Department data, of the six worst hit districts, while Mohali,Jalandhar and Ludhiana were doing well in terms of vaccination, Amritsar,Bathinda, Patiala were running short of targets. The Chief Minister directedthese three districts to step up efforts.