Telangana: Frontline workers may get Covaxin jab in February

HYDERABAD: In all likelihood, healthcare workers in the state will not get the Covaxin vaccine for Covid-19 even though the state government has received 1.73 lakh doses. Frontline workers of other departments may receive Covaxin next month, sources suggested.


While states such as Bihar and Delhi, have already begun administration of Covaxin, Telangana is still holding on in spite of getting 20,000 doses of vaccine in the first batch itself. Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal are also likely to launch the Covaxin from next month.

In the state, vaccination for the other frontline departments will begin from February. There are an estimated two lakh employees who will be part of this drive from the municipal administration and urban development department as well as police and revenue departments.

“We have received 1.73 lakh doses of Covaxin. We wanted to ensure convenience for some time longer as we need separate sites for Covaxin and Covishield to be administered. Also two doses of each vaccine need to be given for a person,” said Dr G Srinivas Rao, director of health, speaking about the logistics.

There are 3.5 lakh healthcare workers in government and private in the state, and a total of 8.73 doses of Covishield and Covaxin have been sent to state till now. The Covaxin doses are currently with state vaccination store centre at Koti.

Till now state government has given 1.4 lakh doses of vaccine to the healthcare workers. The current number of doses available is enough for a second dose to be administrated to healthcare works and even first dose for some frontline workers.Sources while there has been hesitancy towards both vaccines, the consent needed for Covaxin has also been matter of concern. Health department sources say a massive awareness drive is being conducted by the department and doctors in favour of the vaccine.