Phase 3 Inoculation Drive Struggles To Begin Amid Vaccine Shortage; List Of States Which Will Begin Vaccination For 18+

Vaccination in Mumbai will be completely closed for three days from Friday, April 30, 2021 to Sunday, May 2, 2021 due to depletion of available vaccines," the civic body said in a statement.

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New Delhi: Only 6 states will begin the vaccination drive today for those above the age of 18 while most states have said that due to the shortage of supply they are unlikely to begin the Phase 3 of the vaccination drive today or will be limited to a few districts.

These states like Delhi, Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh & Maharashtra - which is one of the worst hit - have said that do not have sufficient dose to begin the vaccination drive for 18-44 age group. 

Vaccination shortage in states

Authorities of Mumbai have shut down vaccination drive for three days from Friday citing lack of adequate doses. “Vaccination in Mumbai will be completely closed for three days from Friday, April 30, 2021 to Sunday, May 2, 2021 due to depletion of available vaccines," the civic body said in a statement.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the people of Delhi not to queue up outside vaccination centres as the national capital is experiencing a shortage of vaccines. Kejriwal said that Delhi will not be commencing the third phase of vaccination to inoculate people of 18-44 yrs of age. Arvind Kejriwal also informed that the capital is likely to receive a huge stock of Covishield vaccine in the next 2 days after which it will begin the drive to vaccine all the adults. 

According to media reports, the vaccination drive in Uttar Pradesh will start only in 7 out of the 75 districts. Health officials told Times of India that the vaccination will only take place in Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Bareilly.

Meanwhile, in Rajasthan inoculation will start in only three districts - Ajmer, Jaipur and Jodhpur. In Gujarat the drive will be carried out only in 10 out of 33 districts.

West Bengal will begin the vaccination drive from May 5th whereas Assam, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh have confirmed that they not start the vaccination drive for everyone above 18 from today. 

Private Hospitals to begin vaccination

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Max Healthcare Institute and Fortis Healthcare on Friday announced that a few of their hospitals will begin the vaccination drive from May 1st. But as per government guidelines, all vaccinations will only be done through prior appointment on the government’s Co-WIN platform, and no vaccine would be administered on a walk-in basis. 

Fortis Healthcare will only be using Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Max Healthcare will be using SII's Covishield meanwhile; Apollo Hospitals will be vaccinating with both Covaxin and Covishield.