Telangana administered 1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses

According to the CoWin dashboard, the state has administered 1,00,75,949 doses as of 5:45 p.m Friday. Of these, 86,27,127 are first doses while 14,48,822 are second doses.

Hyderabad administered the highest number of first and second doses - 19,21,059 and 3,11,745 doses, respectively. Meanwhile, Narayanpet district registered the lowest number of first doses, 42,221, and administered only 8,752 second doses.

State chief secretary Somesh Kumar on Thursday had said that the state, in order to optimally use the supplies provided by the Centre, was vaccinating high-exposure groups on a priority basis. Twenty-five lakh people falling in these groups have been given their first doses so far.

He had said a mop-up vaccination drive has been launched to vaccinate those who have been left behind among the high-risk groups in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area. Vaccines are being administered at 100 centres and 30 mobile vaccination units, he added.

Meanwhile, ICMR director general Balram Bhargava said both Covidshield and Covaxin work against the variants of SARS CoV 2 - Alpha, Beta, Gamma as well as Delta. "Delta Plus has been detected in 12 countries; 48 cases have been identified in India but more importantly, they have been very localized," he said.

Dr. Bhargava added, "This virus has also been isolated and cultured now. We are conducting the same tests that we did for Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants. We are looking at the laboratory test to check the vaccine's effects. We should have the results in about seven to 10 days."

He also said that the health ministry has issued a guideline stating that the COVID-19 vaccines can be given to pregnant women.