Hyderabad: The Telangana government stopped the special drive for the second dose of vaccination for Saturday and Sunday, following an important decision taken by the central government on Thursday.
The Centre on Thursday announced that they will be extending the gap between the two doses of Covishield from 4-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks for all age groups.
They made the decision after a recommendation made by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). NTAGI has also recommended that those who have recovered from COVID-19 should take the vaccine six months post-recovery.
Following this, Telangana’s Director of Public Health, Dr G Srinivas Rao said that they would be pausing vaccination for two days–May 15 and 16.
then sent out a tweet stating that the vaccination drive which was paused for two days, May 15 and 16 and will resume the drive back from Monday.
“The vaccination campaign will be resumed on 17.05.2021 for which details of beneficiaries and modality will be intimated,” Rao said in a statement.
The Telangana government had earlier prioritized limiting the vaccination to only those who must take the second dose. However, it continues to administer first and second doses to everyone above 45 years of age.
Vaccination for 18-45 age groups, which was to begin on May 1, has not been initialized so far due to a shortage in vaccines.