SHILLONG: The
Meghalaya
government on Saturday said people aged between 18 and 44 years will need to wait for four weeks to get the shots, while
vaccination
for those above 45 will continue in the state, chief minister
Conrad K Sangma
said on Saturday.
“The challenge that we as a country and as a state are facing is that we don’t have enough stock. And the different manufacturing companies are asking for time,” Conrad said, as Meghalaya recorded three more
Covid
deaths in the East Khasi Hills, taking the fatality count to 174, even as 262 more tested positive for the virus, pushing up the number of active cases in the state to 1,659.
“The government of Meghalaya, like other states, has already placed orders but the communication that has been given from the
government of India
as well as from the companies is that it would take any time between three to four weeks for them to inform us about their status. So, therefore, though the permission to start the vaccination was from May 1, because of shortage of vaccines throughout the country, most states, including Meghalaya, will not be able to start the vaccination drive... but, the Government of India has decided to give a small quota to all the states,” the CM said.
“Therefore, in a systematic manner, in a proper scheduled and appointment manner, after seeing the registration that has been done on the website, we will start some numbers of vaccination in the next few days. But a mass roll-out will only be possible when we get the full supply of the vaccines,” he said.
The CM urged citizens of the state between 18-45, to “please be patient”, adding, “We are working very hard to get these vaccines, we will be in touch with you, please register yourselves…”
The CM assured younger beneficiaries that as soon as the state receives the supplies from different companies, “we will be rolling out the vaccination drive in a very efficient manner”.
Meanwhile, the State capital wore a deserted look today as confinement measures for 10 days begun with the aim to break the chain of infection of Covid-19 which has been on the surge. Besides the Shillong urban agglomeration, which has been the most hit by Covid-19, the confinement measures are also being undertaken at Jowai and
Tura
towns from 5 am of May 1 till 5 am of May 10.
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