Covid-19 Phase 3 Vaccination for 18+ starts today, but states say that they don’t have vaccine stock.

Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal

The ambitious phase 3 Covid-19 Vaccination drive which starts today is likely to hit some roadblocks as many states have articulated their inability to inoculate people in the wake of a vaccine shortage.

Several state governments have said that they won’t be able to start the vaccination drive from May 1 because they do not have any vaccine doses.

For the unversed the Union Health Ministry on Thursday, two days ahead of the vaccination drive said that more than 1 crore vaccine doses are available with the states and they will receive 20 lakh more doses in the next few days.

Meanwhile, over 2.45 crore beneficiaries have registered themselves till Friday morning on the Cowin platform for the Phase 3 Vaccination drive that will start on Saturday.

Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand are among the states that have said they are running low on vaccines ahead of phase 3.

The Serum Institute of India’s current manufacturing capacity is 6-7 crore doses per month while Bharat Biotech had produced around 2 crore doses in April as against 1.5 crore doses in March.

India has been witnessing an alarming surge in Covid Cases over the last weeks and if experts are to believed them increasing the vaccine coverage is a single weapon that will give a boost to the country’s fight against the Covid-19.

However, the states are still trying to figure out the delivery schedule of vaccines and some have been told by the Serum Institute of India, that the deliveries of the Covishield vaccines will not start before May 15.