While Bharat Biotech has been manufacturing its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin in Hyderabad, the state is yet to receive Covaxin shipments and has relied on Serum Institute's Covishield to inoculate health workers ever since the first phase of the vaccination drive was launched on Saturday. During the second day of the vaccination drive, 324 health centres were involved in vaccination activities throughout Telangana.
A senior government official on Monday said that the state was relying on Covishield as Covaxin shots were yet to be dispatched by Bharat Biotech.
A total of 2,24,301 beneficiaries were inoculated with Covid-19 vaccine as of Sunday night, union health ministry officials said.
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The Telangana government has received 20,000 doses of the Covaxin as against 3.64 lakh of Covishied.
"Today (Monday) vaccination programme will be done in 324 session sites. Each site will administer 50 people. Only Covishield will be given as Covaxin is yet to reach the sites," an official told PTI.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive was successfully rolled out in Telangana on Saturday with about 4,000 healthcare workers receiving the first dose.
State Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao had said the vaccination programme was initially undertaken at 140 sites out of the 1,213 locations in the state. While 4,296 persons were targetted on January 16, the vaccine was only administered to 3,962 people, official sources said.
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Described as the world's largest inoculation drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched India's Covid-19 vaccination programme and asserted that the made-in-India vaccines being rolled out will ensure a "decisive victory" in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
(With PTI inputs)
