The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday placed an order for the purchase of 4.08 crore doses each of Covaxin and Covishield for vaccinating 2.04 crore people in the 18-45 age group from May 1. The state government is expected to shell out Rs 1600 crore for the vaccines.
Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas said the state government is expected to spend Rs 1,600 crore on free vaccination for all people in the age group of 18 to 45 years.
Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced on Friday that all 2.04 crore people in the 18-45 age group would be given the coronavirus vaccine free-of-cost from May 1.
Government Principal Secretary (Covid Management and Vaccination) Muddada Ravichandra wrote letters to Bharat Biotech MD Krishna Yella and Serum Institute of India Limited CEO Adar Poonawalla in this regard.
Ravichandra said in the letter wrote, “Extensive arrangements are made at the State Vaccine Stores (Gannavaram), regional and district vaccine stores with state-of-the-art equipment for maintenance of vaccines and proper linkage of supply and monitoring. A mechanism to vaccinate over six lakh people per day is already in place in our state,"
The Principal Secretary said the government was committed to vaccinating all people on a mission mode. "Hence, the vaccine doses may be supplied, as early as possible, directly to the state government and payment shall be made as per the commercials, as per rules," he added.
The contain the spread of the virus state government has also imposed a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am starting Saturday.
Jagan directed officials to ramp up Coronavirus testing to full capacity and focus on supplying oxygen and Remdesivir injection, besides preventing them from being black marketed.
The Chief Minister has also instructed the officials to take strict action against overcharging private hospitals as complaints have been received.
Jagan has directed officials to fully functionalise the 104 call centre, responding to each and every call and providing information on the availability of beds.
A Joint Collector will be assigned to each of the 104 call centres in each district to monitor calls.
He told officials to conduct Class 10, intermediate, degree and engineering examinations as per schedule without causing any inconvenience to students.
Reddy said the examinations should be conducted keeping in view the health of students and complying with Coronavirus rules.
On the supply of oxygen, officials informed Jagan that the delay was because of a lack of proper transportation.
They said only 64 vehicles were allotted for the supply of oxygen while at least 100 to 120 vehicles were needed to meet the current demand.
Andhra Pradesh will require as much as 515 MT of oxygen if all the oxygen beds are occupied in the state while an average of 284 MT of the gas is currently being used in government and private hospitals.
Officials informed Reddy that they have requested the Union government to supply 100 MT of oxygen manufactured in RINL, Visakhapatnam to Andhra Pradesh and also ensure supply of the gas from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
(With IANS and PTI Inputs)