Centre's vaccination drives unplanned, too late: TMC

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) criticised the Center for not taking up adequate steps regarding vaccination on time. TMC also stated that the Centre's effort was too late.

"If 'Seva' and 'Sushasan' were real priorities for the government, then vaccination drives would have been planned and amped up on time! A little effort too late WILL NOT UNDO THE DAMAGE caused by the pandemic," tweeted TMC.

It may be mentioned that the Centre launched free booster doses for general population after the state government had repeatedly urged them for doing so.

On the first two days of the rollout of free booster doses among the general people aged between 18 and 59, Bengal registered over 80 per cent administration of doses among this age bracket while only around 20 per cent of the recipients of booster doses were elderly citizens.

Health department sets a target of conducting a maximum number of free booster doses on people aged between 18 and 59. The number of booster recipients jumped a few times on Friday as the free booster doses started for the general population. Almost all the Covid vaccination centers (CVCs) have seen a huge footfall.

According to health department figures, around 3.35 lakh precautionary doses were administered on Saturday across the state. A total 3.70 lakh doses have been administered cumulatively on Saturday. Around 26,868 people received second doses while 8,228 people received first doses.

Senior health department officials believe that the number will increase further as the state government makes all government CVCs operational from Saturday. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)-run CVCs saw the footfall rising by almost five times in the first day of free vaccination among the general people than the previous days when it was only restricted among the elderly citizens.

State health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam had urged the Union health secretary for fresh supply of doses as booster drives could have been affected due to inadequate stock.

Bengal currently has around 38 lakh doses of the Covid vaccine in its stock. State health department has the infrastructure and manpower to administer at least 15 lakh doses a day. The stock in hand will be exhausted soon and the process may be hampered if fresh stock is not replenished by the Centre.