‘Where can I get COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest date?’— This is one of the most asked questions by people in the 18-44 age group. Heads of a few major corporate hospitals in Telangana, who are awaiting the doses, too do not have a definite answer to this question.
There are two reasons for amplified curiosity : (1) Booking a slot through CoWin has become a challenge. (B) Only people above 45 years are being provided with the vaccine (second dose) at Government COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (GCVC).
The Telangana government is vaccinating people in high-risk group such as fruits and vegetable vendors. With this, the only option for people in the 18-44 age group in non-high-risk groups is to get vaccinated at Private CVCs.
Several people have been trying from past several days to book a slot through CoWin but did not succeed yet. They wanted to know when would they find slots easily. This is directly linked to availability of vaccine doses. “Currently, no one can put finger on a date and say ‘the vaccines supply will increase henceforth’. Until a few weeks ago, we anticipated supply will increase from June 15. But now we are cautious and do not announce any dates,” said the head of a corporate hospital who did not want to be quoted.
One more hospital’s management too shared the same observation and wondered how their counterparts managed to get the doses. While some of them have managed to get the vaccine doses and started conducting mass vaccination drives at gated communities and corporate companies, a few are still awaiting for their stock.
