Telangana: 36 lakh skip due date for second dose of Covid vaccine

Hyderabad: As many as 36 lakh people in the State have skipped the due date of second dose ofc. Though the Covid cases in the State are decreasing considerably, the non-availability of vaccines at few centres, lack of awareness among the people in getting the second dose are reportedly causing a threat to further increase in cases.

The reports from the Department of Health disclosed that 30 per cent of cases that are being reported every day were among those who did not get their second dose of vaccine. Despite the claims of health officials over the availability of adequate doses in the State, it is learnt that at some centres the alleged slip distribution for vaccination leads people to go back from the centres.

In Hyderabad district, 6,36,262 people, Medchal 4,90,582 and Rangareddy 4,77,539 have skipped the due date of getting second dose along with 15 lakh people in the GHMC limits. There is a theory that the vaccination process ends at 4 pm, but in the city where many people go to work are not able to take their second dose, as there are not many vaccination centres that administer vaccines even after 4 pm. One centre at Khajaguda administers vaccines from 7am to 11 pm.

When asked about the reasons behind people skipping the second dose, Dr Srinivas Rao, the Director of Public Health said, "Many are assuming that they will not get exposed to the virus as they had the first dose of vaccine. We are making all efforts to reach out to people. About 9,000 medical staff is working at ground level to vaccinate. And they are going to every village of every ward."

"Despite the wide range of campaigns, people are assuming that there is no threat for them. More than 50 per cent of the people in Hyderabad city got the second dose. To speed up the process, we have started a full-time vaccination centre at Khajaguda. We are also about to start another four centres in the city in the same line-up. More than 69 lakh people have not taken the first dose. Due to which, the daily Covid cases are witnessing among them," he said.