Hyderabad, Aug 9 (IANS): The Telangana government has urged the Centre to provide 50 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines to expedite the vaccination programme in the state.

State Health Minister T. Harish Rao on Tuesday wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, urging him to immediately supply 50 lakh doses of Covishield to help ramp up pace of precautionary dose administration.

Rao informed the Central minister that the state has decided to take up a massive drive to administer precautionary doses to the eligible population.

Rao wrote that the state is currently administering only 1.5 lakh doses per day. He told the Central minister that the state is not receiving required quantity of doses.

The minister further said that based on the demand, Telangana has the potential to administer over 3 lakh precautionary doses per day, which is not being realised due to a shortage of vaccines, particularly Covishield.

Rao reminded him that the state has repeatedly requested for an increase in vaccine supply. Currently, Telangana has only 2.7 lakh vaccine doses available, which is not sufficient even for two days, he wrote

The state health minister highlighted that Telangana has completed 106 per cent of the first dose administration, and 104 per cent of the second dose for people above 18 years.