Telangana Government unhappy with Centre's vaccine policy

Telangana Government unhappy with Centre’s vaccine policy
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Telangana Government unhappy with Centre’s vaccine policy

Highlights

The Telangana Government is not happy with the Union Government's new vaccine supply policy announced on Tuesday.

Hyderabad: The Telangana Government is not happy with the Union Government's new vaccine supply policy announced on Tuesday. The government feels that the conditions - Population, Positivity Rate and Vaccine Wastage - stipulated by the Centre for the supply of vaccine to the States may hit the ongoing inoculation programme for those who are in the age group of 18 years and above.

The government feels that these conditions would result in a delay in the supply of required vaccine doses. Already 40 lakh people were waiting for the second dose due to a shortage of vaccine.

Top officials of the State Government said that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao reviewed the Centre's new vaccination policy and its impact on the vaccination programme. Officials said that the Centre accorded priority to the highly populated and high corona infected States in the supply of vaccine to be launched in the next phase of vaccination of programme which would begin from June 21.

According to official figures released by the Centre, Telangana was one among the States which registered high vaccine wastage. While the state Medical and Health department officials claimed that the wastage of vaccine in Telangana was only 0.17 per cent. If the Centre does not accept the State's claim, Telanagana would have to wait for more time to get vaccine supply.

The officials also found fault with the Centre for considering the positivity rate as one of the main parameters for vaccine supply. The TS Government was making all-out efforts to reduce the positivity rate below 2 per cent and already succeeded to some extent. The Centre should recognise the TS government's achievement in containing the positivity rate and supply adequate vaccines to check the third wave.

On a population basis, Telangana was not in the first top ten States in the country. Hence, the most populous and high positivity rate States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat would get first preference in availing vaccines.

Telangana stood at 12th position in terms of population in the country. As of date, 70.43 lakh people have been administered the Covid vaccine. About 40 lakh people were waiting for the second dose. Under the new policy, States would have to depend on the Union government for a free vaccination. It does not rule out the possibility of the Centre discriminating between States in the supply of vaccine, officials said.


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