The vaccination drive for the 18 -44 age group would not start on May 1 in Madhya Pradesh as the manufacturers can not supply enough vaccine doses in time, announced Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday.
However, he added the ongoing vaccination of people in the above-45 category will continue. Earlier this month this month the Union government opened up vaccination for the entire adult population.
Chouhan said in a video message at night, ‘On contacting the manufacturers of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines we learned that they are unable to give us doses for those above 18 years of age on May 1. ‘So the drive covering the young people won’t start on May 1.
‘Hopefully, we will be getting vaccine doses around May 3. After that we will give the final shape to the drive for the young people,’ he added.
‘Keep patience and there is no need to panic,’ the chief minister added.
The state government has already placed orders with Covishield maker Serum Institute of India and Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech, he said.
Madhya Pradesh has joined a string of states that have expressed their inability to start vaccinating the 18-44 age group population against COVID-19 infection, citing vaccine unavailability.
Madhya Pradesh is one of the first major BJP-ruled states to express this inability. On Thursday, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced vaccinations for those above 18 would start by May 15, instead of May 1.
Before this, opposition-ruled states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra had already said that they would not be able to take up the 18-44 age group vaccination as vaccine doses were not available.
Chouhan took to Twitter to say “the campaign to vaccinate people over 18 years of age was to commence from May 1. Madhya Pradesh has placed orders with companies concerned for doses of Covishield (Serum Institute) and Covaxin (Bharat Biotech) for the purpose, but communications with both the companies has revealed that they will not be able to provide us with the vaccines. Therefore, the vaccination programme will not be able to start in MP from May 1.”
The decision for Madhya Pradesh was announced late on Thursday night by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan following a review meeting with senior officials of the state.
Chouhan, while announcing this, urged the people “to have patience and not to panic”.