Vaccination For 18-45 Yrs Possible Only From Sep: Jagan

After the Centre had made it clear that vaccination for people aged between 18 and 45 years would begin from May 1, 2021, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that the state government would administer vaccine free of cost to citizens in the said age group.

However, when people of that age group are anxiously waiting for their turn to get vaccinated, Jagan made another crucial statement, ahead of May 1.

He said that people aged between 18 and 45 years in Andhra Pradesh could be vaccinated only from September, which means a delay of four months.

Probably, Jagan is the first Chief Minister to publicly state that there would be delay in beginning the vaccination drive for the new age group in his state. He also said that it is uncertain when the Covid-19 problem would get resolved but at the same time said that vaccination is the only solution.

In the wake of such a situation, Jagan exhorted the people to be cautious and follow Covid protocols to stay safe and also ensure safety to their family members.

Covid-19 to stay till next January

In the wake of the less quantity of vaccine being produced and its availability in the country, people are being forced to wait for the jab. Many vaccination centres are still administering only the second dose because there is a huge backlog of it in AP.

Further, Jagan also made it clear that the vaccination which would begin in September would take another 4 months to complete which means it would end only in January, 2022.

As of now, only 7 crore doses (one crore by Bharat Biotech and six crore by Serum Institute) are being manufactured in a month. It will take some more time for Dr Reddy’s and other companies to begin production of their vaccines.

Jagan said that there are 60 crore people aged between 18 and 45 years in the country and 120 crore vaccines doses are required to inoculate them.

Apps develop snag

On the other hand, the CoWIN app on which citizens aged 18-45 years were asked to register themselves for the vaccination reportedly crashed many times unable to withstand 33 lakh hits per minute once the registration process from Wednesday.

After some time, it resumed working and started sending OTPs but people aged 18-44 years were not given slots for the vaccination.

When these people tried to book a slot, the app began flashing in red bold letters that people aged above 45 years alone can get the slots for vaccination.

The app further said that all others would be given slots basing on availability in government and private hospitals and that they would be informed later. The app also mentioned regrets for the inconvenience caused to those trying to get registered for the vaccination drive. Arogya Setu and Umang apps also developed similar snags.