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Covid vaccine shortage forces Bengal govt to cut down on first dose
The state government has directed all the districts and state-run hospitals to reserve at least 50% of the available vaccines for the second dose
The West Bengal government has decided to cut down on administering the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines due to acute shortage and to cope with the growing number of persons whose second dose is due.
The state government has directed all the districts and state-run hospitals to reserve at least 50% of the available vaccines for the second dose.
“Due to acute shortage of vaccine, second dose will be given priority until we receive adequate quantity of vaccines. We are now left with only around 600,000 doses,” said a senior health department official.
Data available with the state government revealed that as on June 29, at least 670,000 people were due for the second dose of Covishield vaccine, while another 160,000 were due for Covaxin vaccine’s second dose. The total number of second doses due is around 379,000.
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The maximum overdue amount of the second dose was reported from Kolkata. While the overdue for Covishield in the city was 58,428 on Tuesday, for Covaxin it was 25,021.
“For Kolkata Municipal Corporation, first dose will not be given for the next two days,” said the official, adding that by July-end around 600,000 people will be due for the second dose in Kolkata alone.
Districts have also been asked to identify the all the persons whose second due is due and schedule their vaccination in a time bound manner.
For Covishield, the due date for second dose is after 12 – 16 weeks and for Covaxin it is 4 – 6 weeks after the first dose. Beyond the due date period on is considered overdue for the second dose.
Till date the West Bengal government has administered 21,700,000 vaccines, of which 16,700,000 were the first dose. Only 4,980,000 people have received the second dose. The maximum vaccines were given in Kolkata – 2,580,000 first doses and 630,000 second doses.
The daily count of Covid-19 cases has dropped from more than 20,000 in mid-May this year to around 1,600 on Tuesday.
