Telangana: Free Vaccine in Govt Hospitals or Private Centres Too? 

The vaccination drive in Telangana has hit a roadblock, primarily because there is not enough stock of vaccines available with the state health department. According to the officials, the state is facing a huge shortage of vaccine doses.

The state has so far administered 1,87,769 first dose and 27,525 second doses of the vaccine to the people on April 26, whereas these numbers had gone down to 89,650 and 19,238 respectively on April 27. 

Several vaccination centres are running short of supplies and we are having to ask people to come again, said an official told a newspaper.

Meanwhile, the officials are in some confusion about whether to start administering Covid-19 shots to people in the age band of 18 and 44 years which is expected to start from May 1. Those who logged in to the portal, cowin.gov.in starting 4 p.m., on Wednesday, were not provided actual vaccination slots but were allowed to get themselves registered.

G Srinivas Rao, director of health services told that the current exercise of opening up the registration is to estimate the demand from this age group for vaccination.

There is also some confusion on free vaccination as mentioned by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao whether the vaccination will be free at the state-run vaccination centres or all vaccination centres in Telangana.

Currently, Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech said that it would sell each dose to the states at Rs 600 and Rs 1,200 for private hospitals, while Covishield maker Serum Institute of India said it would charge Rs 300 per dose to states and Rs 600 per dose to private vaccination facilities.

However, clear decisions are expected to come after the meeting with Chief Minister on Thursday where he will be reviewing the Covid-19 situation in the State. There are also chances of extending the night curfew imposed in Telangana which comes to an end on April 30.