People can continue to enroll on the Cowin portal, but vaccination for people in the 18-44 year age group will begin only after the government gets specific delivery schedules from the Serum Institute for Covishield. “We will announce the launch date once we get to hear from the company. We hope to get it at the earliest,” the minister told reporters.
There are about 3.5 crore people estimated to fall in this age group, and the government, Sudhakar said, has placed orders for 1 crore doses with the Pune-based manufacturer. Government hospitals will provide vaccination free of cost to enrolled persons, he said.
Those who are 45 years and above, however, can visit health centres as before and get themselves vaccinated, he said.
Karnataka, Sudhakar said, has so far received 99 lakh doses out of which it has vaccinated 95 lakh doses with wastage at 1.4%.
Enquiries by ET confirmed that private hospitals will not vaccinate people from May 1 regardless of their age group as they can do so only after buying their vaccine stock from private vendors.
Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) together have a capacity to make about six to seven crore doses a month, and Dr Reddy’s is yet to announce how much Sputnik-V doses it will produce. They are currently meeting their supply commitments to the Union Government, and states’ orders will come next in line.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress president DK Shivakumar slammed the government for what he saw as lack of preparations to vaccinate people even after a year of Covid-19 outbreak.