Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, 16 April, asking him to instruct the Health Ministry to supply 60 lakh COVID vaccine doses to the state, to ensure that all people above the age of 45 get their first vaccination dose in the next three weeks.
Reddy also brought to the PM’s notice, the massive effort by state health officials in administering 6.28 lakh doses in a single day on 14 April, in accordance with the PM’s call for a ‘Tika Utsav’.
Reddy also asserted that this was the highest single-day vaccination done by any state in the country.
Decentralised Governance Mechanism Responsible for Successful Vaccination Drive
Reddy asserted that the state was able to administer over 6 lakh doses as they leveraged the village and ward volunteer system, where a dedicated volunteer takes care of 50 families. He further said that the entire district administration was also involved in the vaccination drive.
Though the state has established a capable model, said Reddy, that other states could also emulate, the vaccine stocks have completely run out. The state’s efforts to vaccinate 6 lakh people a day could only be made possible if more vaccine stock is provided.
CM Reddy had written a letter regarding the shortage on 9 April as well. In response to which Andhra Pradesh had received 6.4 lakh vaccine doses in two batches. Over 4.4 lakh vaccine doses were delivered on Monday, 12 April and another 2 lakh doses of vaccines on Tuesday.
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