State's immunisation drive faces vaccine crunch hurdle

Kolkata: Shortage of Covaxin is still a cause of concern for the Health department as over 1 lakh people in the state are yet to receive their second dose of the same vaccine. State is expected to receive a consignment of Covaxin on Monday.

Various Covid Vaccination Centers (CVC), including those run by the government, have been facing shortage of its stock. As a result, agitations are being staged at various centers. There have been long queues at various centers. SSKM hospital had seen a huge footfall in the past couple of days.

State was supposed to receive 2.55 lakh doses of Covaxin as per the schedule. However, it is yet to receive the entire amount. The next consignment may reach the city on Monday.

The state Health department was eager to complete the double dose among most people ahead of a possible third wave. It had also set a target of carrying out 5 lakhs doses each day. But, the Health department failed to meet its target due to inadequate supply of vaccine doses.

A senior health official on Saturday said they had the capacity of vaccinating more than one and a half crore people per month without any further augmentation of infrastructure or human resources if they receive an uninterrupted supply from the Centre.

According to the Saturday's figure of vaccination—provided by the Health department, Bengal has so far received 2.36 crore doses of Covid vaccine from the Centre while it has procured around 17.74 lakh doses. State government had to scale down the immunisation drive than its capacity only because of lack of supply of vaccines.

Health department was informed that it would be given around 75 lakh doses this month. But, it has so far received around 54 lakh doses.

Health department on Saturday administered around 3,30,008 doses. State has so far cumulatively administered 2,76,57,501 doses across Bengal till Saturday. Around 87 lakh people have been vaccinated in the age group 18-44 years, around 106 lakh 45-60 years and around 83.43 Lakh above 60 years.

Many private hospitals are now reducing the number of their off-site camps due to the shortage of vaccines. The government vaccination centers are also reducing the number of daily vaccinations.

Around 2,634 Common vaccination centers (CVCs) have been set up across the state till Sunday. Around 2,220 AEFI cases have been reported across the state till date.

Vaccine wastage percentage in the state stands at -7 per cent on Sunday. The wastage of vaccines in the state is minimal compared to the figures from various other states.