Covid Vaccination at snail's pace in Telangana

Hyderabad: The Union Government is planning to widen the umbrella of Covid-19 vaccine beneficiaries by including other sections of the population, but despite the surge in new cases of coronavirus the state government has not taken any new initiatives to motivate people between the age of 45 to 60 plus to get vaccinated.

Though it is about a month since the Centre permitted the general public to take Covid vaccine, the progress in Telangana has been at a slow pace. So far, only little over six lakh people have received the jab. Many are still wondering whether to opt for Covishield or Covaxin. It is said that on an average less than 35,000 people were getting vaccinated per day. Speaking to The Hans India about the reason behind slow pace of vaccination in Telangana, Health Minister Eatala Rajender said the number of people getting vaccinated could go up if the Centre permits people above 25 years of age and those who are in high exposure areas like banks, post offices, teachers etc to take the vaccine.

He said from April 1, people above 45 years without comorbidities will be permitted to take the vaccine and this would help in increasing the number of vaccines being given by different centres, he said.

Asked about the surge in the cases during the last two weeks or so, the Minister said that there was no need to worry. The increase was being reflected since the number of sample testing had gone up. The number of new cases in Telangana is much less compared to Andhra Pradesh or Maharashtra. He appealed to the people to take the vaccine and assured them that there was no need to think as to which one to be taken Covishield or Covaxin as both are tested and have proved to be highly effective. He asked them not to get confused with all kinds of wrong publicity that was being made on social media.