Hyderabad, May 25 (IANS): The Telangana government on Tuesday permitted all the designated private hospitals in the state to start administration of Covid vaccines to people above 18 years.

The private hospitals, which are designated Private Covid Vaccination Centres (PCVCs) in Telangana, can now give the Covid vaccine jabs to eligible individuals.

Director of public health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao on Tuesday issued orders permitting the private hospitals designated as PCVCs to carry out the vaccination. They can also carry out the vaccination at workplaces or on requests made by institutions/companies/gated communities etc.

However, individuals will have to register on the CoWin portal. The PCVCs will have to follow Covid vaccination guidelines.

Vaccination for those between 18 and 44 years was launched across the country on May 1. However, the Telangana government kept the rollout for this group in abeyance due to shortage of vaccines.

Due to non-receipt of stocks from the Centre, the state since early this month limited vaccination to only those beneficiaries in the above 45 age group who were due for a second dose.

The vaccine shortage forced the authorities to suspend even the second dose. After a gap of 10 days, the process resumed on Tuesday.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had last month announced free Covid vaccination for all the eligible beneficiaries in the state. This is estimated to cost Rs.2,500 crore to the state exchequer.

He said the state has a population of nearly 4 crore, including people from different states who have come to work in various sectors.

Over 56 lakh people have already been vaccinated in the state.

The state has a population of 1.72 crore in the 18-44 age group and it needs nearly 3.6 crore doses of vaccine to complete the programme. The officials say Telangana has a daily vaccination capacity of 10 lakh people but lack of adequate supplies from the Centre is hindering the vaccination.