Punjab’s vax drive reaches a trickle for want of vials
Only 15,953 people vaccinated on Tuesday; of 15-lakh doses expected from Centre in next 10 days, 70% to be reserved for 2nd jab
CHANDIGARH: Punjab on Tuesday could inoculate only 15,953 people, which is the lowest count for a day this month, and the vaccination drive is likely to slow down further with Centre asking the states to keep at least 70% of free vaccine doses reserved for the second jab.
Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Hussan Lal, said the state will get 15-lakh doses from the Centre for the 45-plus category in the first fortnight of this month out of which 70% vials need to be kept for those expecting a second jab.
The state received 2 lakh doses of Covishield from the Centre on Tuesday afternoon. In a tweet on Tuesday morning, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh urged the Union health minister to urgently review and enhance Punjab’s allocation taking into account the high incidence of Covid infections. “Our vaccine stocks stand depleted at less than 50,000. Centre’s allocation for May 1-15 is only 6-lakh doses i.e. 40,000 a day,” said Amarinder.
Health director Dr GB Singh said state’s demand for the second dose will increase in the next few days and it was
very important to vaccinate those who have already got the first shot.
Punjab is also likely to get in the third week of May the first instalment of over 3-lakh doses of Covishield from its booking of 30-lakh meant for the 18-plus category.
“If our allocation for 45-plus category is not increased, we will have very limited stock left for the first dose. Punjab has 2,610 sites for vaccination,” said the health director.
The state has also not booked Covaxine for its 18-plus category despite data showing the vaccine having more efficacy than the Covishield. The decision on not booking Covaxine was taken on the recommendations of state’s
experts group on Covid-19 and vaccination, an official said.
“Covishield is equally effective. Moreover Covishield is cheaper and its availability is going to increase in the coming days,” said head of Punjab’s experts group and former PGIMER director Dr KK Talwar.
Only 1,200 doses left in Amritsar
The vaccination drive in Amritsar was badly hit as 22% of centres earmarked for the jabs remained shut on Tuesday. The district is left with only 1,200 Covishield doses and the health department officials say the stock is insufficient to run the drive even for one more day.
As per the health department,
only 2,907 people could be inoculated in Amritsar district on Tuesday. While many health centres couldn’t operate due to vaccine shortage, some community health centres remained non-operational after the community health officers went on a day’s strike over their long-pending demand of regular job.
Till now, the district health department has administered 2,42,196 doses in Amritsar, including healthcare workers, frontline warriors and people above the age of 45. Of these, 55,212 have already taken their second jab.
Drive only at 2 of 150 centres in Sangrur
The Sangrur district has not received vaccine stock for the past four days, the vaccination drive is being run at only two sites in the district, senior health officials said on Tuesday. Sangrur assistant civil surgeon Dr Jagmohan Singh said stock of vaccines was collected from across the district and frontline workers were being inoculated at Sangrur and Malerkotla centres. “We are administering the second jab. The vaccination drive is going on only at two centres against 150-plus sites earlier,” he added.
Many camps suspended in Bathinda, other districts
Several vaccination camps were suspended in Bathinda and its adjoining districts on Tuesday for want of vaccine. People in large numbers had gathered at Bathinda Civil Hospital but the authorities did not have sufficient vaccine doses to cater to them all.
Civil surgeon Dr TS Dhillon said against an average daily requirement of 2,300-2,500 doses, the district had only 1,700 vials. “Several camps were suspended today. Our team has gone to Chandigarh to get fresh stock of vaccine. Further vaccination programme will be decided tomorrow on the basis of availability,” he said. Mansa district had just 300 Covishield vials and the drive slowed down on Tuesday. Against the daily requirement of 1,000 doses, Muktsar had 1,250 vials, said civil surgeon Dr Ranju Singla.