The vaccination of 18+ should be started from today, but amid a lack of vaccine supplies, several States have postponed the scheduled May 1 rollout of Phase III. That is why Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the capital will not join the wider vaccination drive as the required doses have not been received yet. He requested people in the newly added age group not to queue up at vaccination centres on May 1 as this might lead to violation of social distancing and create a law-and-order situation. Further, many States including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab, have written a letter to the Centre seeking urgent replenishing of vaccine supplies.
Additionally, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan utttered on Thursday that vaccination for people in the age group of 18-44 in the state will not start from May 1 as they don’t have enough supply of the vaccine doses in time. “On contacting the manufacturers of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines, we learnt that they are unable to give us doses for those above 18 years of age on May 1,” he added. However, The Punjab health department informed because of shortage of doses, it will not be possible to start the third phase of the campaign to vaccinate all above 18 years of age from May 1 as was announced by the central government.
