No Covid vaccines in stock, govt vaccination centres shut for 2 days in Ghaziabad

Health officials said 30,000 doses each of Covishield, Covaxin and Corbevax have been requisitioned by the health department

The government’s Covid-19 vaccination centres in Ghaziabad were shut on Tuesday and Wednesday because the district’s stock of vaccines was finished on Monday. Health department officials said the district has no stock of any Covishield, Covaxin or Corbevax vaccines in its inventory.

A notice outside a closed vaccination centre at District Combined Hospital at Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

“We have requisitioned stock of different vaccines and they are likely to arrive in the coming days. Till then, we are not operating any government vaccination centres to administer doses. Even on Wednesday, we did not operate any government vaccination centre,” said Dr Bhavtosh Shankhdhar, chief medical officer.

Health officials said 30,000 doses of each of the three vaccines have been requisitioned by the health department.

“The divisional store in Meerut also has no stock at present to provide vaccines to districts. During the lockdown last year, we operated at least 250-300 vaccination centres across the district. At present, no government vaccination centre is in operation,” said a health official who asked not to be named.

One of the major government vaccination centres, the District Combined Hospital in Sanjay Nagar, was also found locked by an HT team and officials there had put up a notice saying “Covid vaccine not available”.

According to data from the CoWin portal, there were no government vaccination centres in operation on Wednesday while only seven private vaccination centres were administering jabs.

The district has overall administered 7,653,109 vaccine doses till Wednesday evening and these include 3,438,590 first doses, 3,398,425 second doses and 816,094 precaution doses.

“The health department should expedite procurement of vaccine stock as pendency will lead to long queues at vaccination centres once fresh stock arrives. If there is no vaccine available, the administering of booster dose will be affected and this dose is vital to keep the infection at bay. It is the vaccine coverage and the immunity that has turned out to be a major protector against infection,” said Dr Ashish Agarwal, former president of the Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad chapter).