Covishield in short supply, Ghaziabad forced to operate 29 centres with Covaxin

In a first, most of the Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) in Ghaziabad on Monday administered the Covaxin vaccine against Covid-19 as the district had only a few Covishield vaccine doses

In a first, most of the Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) in Ghaziabad on Monday administered the Covaxin vaccine against Covid-19 as the district had only a few Covishield vaccine doses.

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Officials from the district health department said that Covaxin was usually available at three CVCs in Ghaziabad, while the rest had mostly Covishield. On Monday, Covaxin was available in 29 of the 39 CVCs. Officials said they had only 2,500 Covishield doses on the day.

The Co-Win portal on recorded 11,183 doses administered in the district till 7pm on Monday, taking its overall count to over 1.8 million doses.

With supply bottlenecks, Covaxin is is the least administered in Uttar Pradesh. Co-Win data showed that Covishield formed about 87% of the total doses administered, while the rest was of Covaxin. The share of the vaccines was similar in Ghaziabad too.

Till Sunday, the district had Covaxin at only a centre in Dasna, Ghanta Ghar Ramlila Ground and Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan.

“On Monday we had to increase the centres to 29 which were given Covaxin. This is because we had only about 2,500 doses of Covishield with on the day,” said GP Mathuria, nodal officer for Covid vaccination.

The state government supplies vaccines to the districts depending on the requirement and how much stock the central government has supplied to them.

The health department officials said it was rare when the Covaxin vaccination was higher than the Covishield.

“On Monday, the entire Dasna region had only Covaxin shots. We expect around 30,000 Covishield doses by Monday night that will help us resume Covishield vaccinations from Tuesday,” said Dr Mathuria.

Dr VB Jindal, former president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad chapter), said he did not expect the “rare day” to have a major impact on vaccination coverage.

“ With Covishield supply higher, a shift in the share of the stock available may have led to many second Covishield dose beneficiaries to return home without getting their shot,” he said. “But the focus must be to increase vaccine stocks to about 20,000 to 25,000 a day.”