Covid-19: First dose vaccinations on hold

Officials of the health department said that the focus is on administering the second vaccine shot to eligible people, to increase the coverage of the vaccinated population

The administration of the first dose of Covishield and Covaxin Covid-19 vaccines will remain suspended at government health centres on Thursday due to a shortage. Officials of the health department said that the focus is on administering the second vaccine shot to eligible people, to increase the coverage of the vaccinated population.

Around 53% of Gurugram’s population is estimated to have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“Based on the availability of the vaccine, nearly 150-200 slots are available for the second dose at 29 government health centres on Thursday. Since there has been a shortage of vaccines, the priority is to make the second vaccine shot easily available to people who are in line to get their vaccination completed,” said Dr Virender Yadav, the chief medical officer for Gurugram.

On Tuesday, only 198 first doses were administered, of which 100 doses were of the Sputnik V vaccine. About 4,560 second doses were administered, largely covering people above 45 years and front-line workers. Of the 13,330 doses administered on the day, 4,758 were given at government health centres and 8,572 at private hospitals.

Over 350,000 people have completed their vaccination schedule, by taking both doses, whereas over 1,334,332 have taken the first vaccine shot. The overall doses administered in the district stands at 1,686,800, the highest in the state.

According to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who was in the city earlier this week, there are over 2.5 million people in Gurugram who are to be covered under the Covid-19 vaccination. Based on the CM’s estimates, at least 53.3% population has received at least the first dose and 14% are completely vaccinated.

According to Yadav, the first dose inoculation of Covaxin has remained suspended for about a month now. “Doses are reserved for the second shot as per the allocation done by the state health department. Meanwhile, session sites for the first dose are planned based on the supply of Covishield,” said Yadav.

The administration of the first vaccine dose has remained disrupted for the past two weeks due to low stocks.