KMC vaccinates over 1L people in 2 days

Kolkata: Over one lakh people were vaccinated in Kolkata on Friday and Saturday after a supply of shots was received from the Centre. There were 47,000 vaccinations in the city on Saturday while the number on Friday was over 53,000.

"There is inadequacy in vaccine supply from the Centre and so we are not yet in a position to officially roll out vaccination for the age group of 18-45. We have the capacity to provide the jab to 1 lakh people daily in Kolkata if the supply is adequate," Firhad Hakim, Chairman, Board of Administrators, KMC said.

KMC provided both the first and second doses from its urban primary health centres and mega centres across the city on Friday and Saturday.

Covaxin jab was administered from 40 centres while Covishield was provided from 101 centres. Besides this, 49 mega centres provided the jab to the super-spreader category that includes transport workers, transgenders etc.

Vaccination in Kolkata had nosedived since Monday because of a short supply of vaccine. On Wednesday, persons whose second doses were due only received the jab.

"In case of Covaxin, the demand is less so we have availability of both first and second dose but in case of Covishield the availability has been irregular," a senior official of KMC's Health department said.

Hakim said KMC does not store any vaccine and provides the same to as many beneficiaries as possible.

"Covid cases in Kolkata have dropped reasonably because we have had a good vaccination record," Hakim added.