The Congress has expressed serious reservations about the success of the vaccination drive being rolled out for the citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 years from May 1, arguing that the shortage of vaccines will take a long time to cover a substantial section of the population and hence defeat the purpose of the exercise.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the protracted schedule of the vaccination drive.

In his letter, Baghel informed Modi that the Chhattisgarh government had placed orders for 25 lakh vaccine doses each from Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to cover the 1.30 crore people between the age of 18 and 44 years. “Bharat Biotech has replied that they will try to deliver the stocks by July end. This means we will get the full requirement of 2.60 crore doses only in a year. This will defeat the purpose of vaccination,” he said.

Medical professionals aren’t sure about the duration of efficacy of the vaccines and the dominant view is that both Covishield and Covaxin might be effective for around a year.

Most states are not in a position to roll out the vaccination drive for the age group of 18-44 years from May 1 as they don’t have enough stock to meet the massive demand.

Baghel requested the Prime Minister to share with the states the full action plan that the Centre might have drawn for vaccinating the 18-44 age group. He also recommended an intense vaccination drive across the country, which can only be achieved if other manufacturers are allowed to step in.

The Congress has been wondering why the Centre did not invoke the compulsory licensing provision to expand manufacturing as suggested by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Maharashtra government has already indicated that the 18-plus vaccination drive will not start on May 1 while states such as Rajasthan and Punjab have said they don’t have the stock to execute the plan. These states said the vaccine manufacturers have expressed their inability to supply to the states till May 15 as they will be occupied with central orders.

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday tweeted: “Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will be put to test on May 1. His claim and his government’s claim that there are sufficient stocks of vaccines with the States will be blown away. No State seems to be ready to open vaccination to the 18-44 years population. Even the CoWin app is not co-operating! If people are turned away from the vaccination centres after May 1 on the ground of ‘No vaccine’, will the Health Minister resign?”