There are 44 lakh corona vaccine doses stored in the state. Unless the central government allows booster doses to be given to everyone in government vaccine centers, they are unlikely to be put to use. We have already completed the second dose for all those over 18 years of age. Although the booster dose is allowed for 60-year-olds, they are not showing much interest.

Vaccination of children under 12-14 years of age is currently ongoing. Vaccination is not happening in more than 25,000 doses daily. The center recommended that they be given only Corbevax. With this, there is a large stockpile of Covishield and Covaxin doses. The State Drug Store in Hyderabad has 39.23 lakh doses of Covaxin, Covishield, and Corbevax combined, while the stores in the districts have another 4.58 lakh doses. Their value is Rs 80.4 crore. If booster doses are not approved by the Center soon, there is a risk that over Rs 50 crore worth of doses will expire.

There are 11.36 lakh children aged 12 to 14 in the state. Of these, 9.11 lakh have taken the first dose so far. Another 2.24 lakh people have to take the first dose. Another 13.6 lakh Corbevax doses would be enough to give them the first dose and then the second dose to everyone. But, we already have 14 lakh doses available. That is 40 thousand more than necessary. While there are already high doses, officials say vaccines are still coming in from the center.

The center recommends only Covaxin for 15- to 17-year-olds. There are 18.41 lakh people of this age group in our state, of whom 74 percent have already completed two doses of vaccination. Another 16 percent completed only a single dose. 6.68 lakh doses would be enough to complete this drive. However, we have a combined dose of 18.67 lakh doses. That is, there are approximately 12 million doses of Covaxin in excess of the requirement.

There are 11.15 lakh doses of Covaxin. These can be taken by anyone over 18 years old. But, the state has already completed two doses of vaccination for all those over 18 years of age. Despite the possibility of a booster dose in the government beyond 60 years, the people are not showing interest. With this, the booster-dose vaccination is progressing slowly.

The central government recently announced that people between the ages of 18 and 60 can also take the booster dose. However, this was limited to private hospitals. With this, the existing Covishield and Covaxin doses are lying unused. In this context, Minister Harish Rao wrote a letter to the Center to give permission to give booster doses in government hospitals as well.