Single-day vax crosses 4L-mark

KOLKATA: Bengal has successfully administered Covid vaccines on over 4 lakh people cumulatively on Monday. This is the second highest single-day doses conducted by the health department so far. Bengal has achieved another milestone on Monday by cumulatively administering over 3 crore doses so far since the immunization started.

"On Monday around 4,21,517 doses were administered in the State till the last report came in a little after 8 pm and cumulatively 3,02,35,534 doses have been administered till date," a senior health official said.

In the special category vaccine group aged between 18-45, around 60,11,060 doses have been administered so far. Around 1,686 Common vaccination centers (CVCs) have been set up across the state till Monday. Around 2,342 AEFI cases have been reported across the state till date. The wastage of vaccines in the state is minimal compared to the figures from various other states.

Bengal has received around 36 lakh doses of vaccine in July but they are not enough. Incidents of agitations are often reported from various centers. Some people who were in the queue for vaccination at the SSKM staged demonstration on Monday alleging that they were standing in the queue since Sunday night and a list was prepared as well. But police later cancelled the list as a result the names of those who were not in the queue eventually got included in the second list ahead of those who were standing from Sunday night. As the chaos broke out at the hospital, the police had to bring the situation under control. On Saturday a similar incident occurred at ESI Hospital Manicktala where some people staged a demonstration at a CVC. The protestors alleged that they were standing in the queue but some local youths tried to drive them away.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Delhi, urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send more doses of Covid vaccines to the state. It is often alleged that more doses are being sent to the BJP ruled states.

The state Health department had to deliberately scale down the vaccination drive due to a lack of adequate stock. State government has however asked the district officials to ensure that people seeking second doses are not denied.