As the news of rising number of COVID cases in China started pouring in, Telangana saw a sharp rise in the number of people rushing to take their jabs.
On December 19, 329 people took their vaccine in Telangana. The number jumped to 1,376 on December 20, 1,692 on December 21, 2,140 on December 22, 3,314 on December 23, and 4,004 on December 24. Though there was a slight drop in number on December 25 with 2,016 doses administered, it increased to 2,487 on December 26, 3,687 on December 27 and 4,302 doses on December 28.
With news reports on the COVID situation in China, there seems to be a panic like situation in India. The Central and State governments have taken stock of the situation and have started to put their entire focus on increasing the vaccination coverage.
As on December 28, the cumulative number of people administered with Dose 1 in Telangana stands at 3.24 crore, Dose 2 is 3.15 crore and precaution dose was administered to 1.32 crore people. The total doses administered in the State stand at 7.72 crore.
Review meeting
Health Minister T. Harish Rao conducted a high-level review meeting on the COVID crisis recently. He said, “There is no need to worry about the COVID situation but there is a need to be alert. Everyone is advised to observe personal hygiene and those who have not taken the vaccine, should take it immediately followed by the booster dose.”
During the meeting, the Minister was explained about the variants currently prevalent in China. He instructed officials to send the samples of positive cases to Gandhi Hospital for genome sequencing, as per the Central government guidelines. He also ordered screening of passengers at the airport.
A few days after that, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a video conference with the health ministers and officials from all States. During the meeting, Mr. Rao urged the Central government to supply extra doses of booster vaccine as Telangana was falling short of them. He informed that the State has 8 lakh doses of Covaxin, 80,000 doses of Covishield and zero doses of Corbevax in stock at the moment. Apart from this, it was learnt that Telangana leads in the administration of booster dose to its population in the entire country. The State has a booster dose coverage of 47.6% while the national average stands at 23.8%.
According to reports, Telangana has administered 100% Dose 1 and Dose 2 vaccinations to its 18 plus population. Among the age group of 15 to 17 years, 93.6% people have taken Dose 1 and 85.9% have taken Dose 2. In the 12 to 14 years age group, 64.2% have taken Dose 1 and 52.3% have taken Dose 2.
Regarding precaution dose, in the 18 to 59 years age group, 44.5% have been administered the dose and in the 60 plus population, 64.9% have been administered, taking the 18 plus average to 47.6%.
On vaccine stock availability, the government in its bulletin mentioned that it has 78,420 doses of Covishield out of which 25,090 are at Cold Chain Points and District Vaccine Stores and remaining 53,330 at State stores. The government has a stock of 8,71,920 doses of Covaxin out of which 1,800 are at Cold Chain Points and District Vaccine Stores and remaining 8,70,120 at State stores.
Intranasal COVID vaccine
On December 27, Bharat Biotech’s intranasal COVID vaccine ‘INCOVACC’ was approved by the Union health ministry as a booster dose for people aged 18 and above. This is India’s first nasal COVID vaccine and is expected to roll out in January-end. The non-invasive needle-free vaccine can be taken as a precautionary dose by adults who have taken Covaxin or Covishield as their earlier doses. Since the virus enters the body through nose, the nasal route has excellent potential for vaccination due to the organised immune systems of the nasal mucosa. This vaccine does not require trained healthcare workers to administer it to the person.
