Vaccine shortage leads to Patna falling short of target
Inadequacy of Covid-19 vaccines led to Patna’s failure to achieve its target of giving the first jab to its eligible adult urban population by July 31, said officials.
Earlier last month, Patna had set an initial target to complete the task by July 25. It had launched an intensive 10-day vaccination drive on July 15, but the shortage of vaccines led to an extension of the deadline by a week.
However, the state capital could achieve 89% first-dose vaccination by end of last month. Inoculation of the remaining 11% will be complete in a week after receiving sufficient vaccines, the officer added.
Patna received 1,97,180 doses of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and 92,920 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine between July 24 and 30, as government officials admitted to the shortage of vaccines.
“We were 64% short in terms of vaccine doses by the end of the last month. We received only 2,90,100 doses against our requirement of 4,51,951 in the last week of July, leaving us short by 1,61,851 doses. The shortage compelled us to curtail our vaccination drive at some session sites, due to which we could not inoculate our target group within the given timeframe,” said a government official, requesting anonymity for fear of being indicted by seniors.
A gag order, circulated among officials by the health department, has reminded them of the official secrecy clause they were bound by, making them liable for punishment for any leak of sensitive information.
The order also indirectly refrains them from talking to the media.
Barring the three 24x7 session sites at the Government Polytechnic in Patliputra Colony, Hotel Patliputra Ashok on Beer Chand Patel Path and the Patliputra Stadium in Kankerbagh, the other vaccination centres were closed on Sunday due to the shortage of vaccines.
Even at the three 24x7 centres, first-timers did not get the vaccine of their choice.
“I wanted to take Covaxin, but it was not being administered to those taking the first shot yesterday (Saturday) at the Government Polytechnic. However, the same officials allowed my husband Ravindra Kumar to take the second dose of Covaxin,” said Shilpa Devi, 28, a homemaker, who resides in New Patliputra Colony.
“Unlike other Sundays, the AN College vaccination centre, where I went for my jab, was closed today,” she added.
With 89% first-dose vaccination in urban areas, Patna’s achievement in terms of Covid-19 inoculation has been good as compared to the rest of the state.
The district has achieved 48% overall first-dose vaccination as compared to 28% by the state. Patna’s second-dose or full vaccination coverage is 15% as against 5% achieved by the state.
Rural Patna, with a first-dose vaccination achievement of 24%, has been slow to keep pace with urban areas. Rural Patna has a target population of 29.12 lakh against 14.36 lakh in urban Patna.
“Patna has made significant achievement by administering the first dose of the vaccine to 89% of its eligible urban population. In addition, we administered 40,524 doses to beneficiaries yesterday, taking the total number of people vaccinated to 27,44,150, an important achievement by all standards,” said Pramod Kumar, district public relations officer.
“The district magistrate has asked his officials to complete the unfinished task as soon as possible while congratulating them for the achievement,” he added.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has set an ambitious target to complete vaccination of the state’s 7.22 crore eligible population by December 31..