Even though the 18-44 years group cannot take their jab at government-run centres, they are majorly contributing to the vaccination numbers by taking their doses at paid facilities. Out of the 82,131 first doses administered on Thursday and Friday, 64,636 were given to people between 18 and 44 years, and out of these, 62,635 were administered at private centres.

Initially, the state government had announced the policy of giving free vaccines to all, but given the situation, over 90 per cent of the doses are paid now. The civic and government-run centres administered 15,000 doses on Tuesday and Wednesday as opposed to 82,000 doses given at private centres. On Thursday, these centres were closed due to unavailability of vaccines.