Despite vaccine shortage, over 2.64 cr cumulatively vaccinated so far in state

KOLKATA: About 3,18,805 people have been vaccinated across the state on Monday taking the total cumulative figure to 2,64,18,258 so far.

The state on Sunday had vaccinated 90,508 people across Bengal. Health department also conducted vaccination among 43,23,866 people belonging to the age bracket 18-44 so far till Monday. No adverse effects following immunization (AEFI) were reported on Monday. State health department has laid great stress on the vaccination drive in the rural and semi-urban areas following the directives from the state government. State health department has laid great stress to vaccinate the maximum number of people ahead of the third wave.

Due to inadequate supply of Covid vaccine from the Centre, the vaccination drive is being affected in the state. The Health department fails to achieve its target of carrying out 5 lakh doses every day. Many private hospitals in the city have rescheduled its off-site vaccination programme due to short supply. Many other private hospitals are now trying to reduce the number of their off-site camps due to a want of a vaccine. Health department on an average conducts 2-3 lakh vaccinations daily. It has already set a target of vaccinating around 5 lakh people daily but fails to achieve the target due to the short supply of doses from the Centre.

Around 953 Common vaccination centers (CVCs) have been set up across the state till Monday. Around 2,086 AEFI cases have been reported across the state till date. Vaccine wastage percentage in the state stands at -7 percent on Sunday. The wastage of vaccines in the state is minimal compared to the figures from various other states.

An incident of chaos was reported from the vaccination center in Durgapur on Monday where some people staged protest demonstrations alleging that they were denied vaccine doses despite being in the queue from the early morning. The vaccination center is situated at Palashdiha health center. A similar incident occurred at a health center in Salt Lake's Duttabad run by the local civic body.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed deaths due to mucormycosis in Bengal has remained at 19 while 42 others who have died are still among the suspected cases. No new confirmed mucormycosis case was reported from the state on Monday and no new suspected case has been reported on Monday. The total number of mucormycosis infected cases remained 81 in the state on Monday. No death was reported among suspected or confirmed cases in Bengal in the past 24 hours. The total number of suspected cases stood 184 in the state so far.