Shortage of 45+ vaccines forces Bihar to cut vaccination sites

PATNA Bihar would be forced to reduce its Covid-19 vaccination session sites as it has only a few vaccines remaining to inoculate its 2

PATNA

HT Image

Bihar would be forced to reduce its Covid-19 vaccination session sites as it has only a few vaccines remaining to inoculate its 2.12 crore population of 45 years and above.

The state was left with 3,28,530 doses of vaccines for the 45+ population, as per government figures till May 13. After Friday’s consumption, the vaccines were not even enough to last a day if the state were to achieve its average daily vaccination target of 2.50 lakh.

The state was left with 1,57,880 doses of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and 1,70,650 doses of Covishield from the Serum Institute of India for the 45+ age group, as on May 13. Given the fact that the consumption rate of Covaxin was slow, the state was hard pressed to manage future vaccination for this age group, said officials.

The state had received an allotment of over 10 lakh doses of vaccines for the May 1-14 fortnight. It was, however, yet to hear from the Centre about the allotment of vaccines for the fortnight beginning May 15.

“We are managing with whatever quantity of vaccines is available with us. We are firefighting on a daily basis. Depending on the availability of vaccines, we may have to decrease the number of session sites,” said Manoj Kumar, executive director, State Health Society, Bihar.

Given the vaccine shortage, the state had already decreased the number of vaccination session sites from 3,000 on May 12 to 1,950 on Friday.

“We may have to reduce the vaccination session sites further tomorrow as some districts don’t have the vaccines,” said another officer associated with the vaccination programme of the health department.

The health department had slowed down its pace of vaccination and shut down many centres after May 12.

Bihar had so far received 7,14,960 doses of Covaxin and 80,62,430 doses of Covishield free of cost from the Centre for the 45+ population. It had consumed 5,57,080 doses of Covaxin and 78,91,780 doses of Covishield. The vaccine wastage was 3.7% in case of Covaxin and 1.4% in case of Covishield, said officials.

In contrast, the state had more number of vaccines to inoculate the 18-44 years age group, having 5.39 crore population in the state. It had 5,51,140 doses of the two vaccines, of which Covaxin accounted for 56,120 doses and Covishield 4,95,020 doses. It was only on May 12 that the state had received 5 lakh doses of Covishield from Pune.

“The state has made available funds for direct procurement of vaccines from the manufacturers for the 18-44 years population,” said Pratyaya Amrit, Bihar’s additional secretary, health.

Covid-19 cases go down

Bihar reported 7,494 new cases of coronavirus, the lowest single-day cases this month, and 77 deaths on Thursday. The cases have been on a decline over the last three days.

Patna reported 967 cases and six deaths during the day, the lowest this month, after recording a high of 3,665 cases on May 6 and 30 deaths on May 2. Purnia contributed 441 cases, Katihar 389, Gopalganj 387, Gaya 350, Muzaffarpur 291, Begusarai 273 and Supaul 268 among others.

Bihar’s case recovery rate also went up to 85.38%, the highest this month, after 14,131 people were discharged from different health facilities across the state.

Drugs for black fungus not available

Liposomal Amphotericin B injection, a specific drug for treatment of cases of mucormycosis or black fungus, was not available in Bihar, claimed the Ruban Hospital, where two cases of the fungal infection were reported on Wednesday.

“We have written to the state drug controller to make available the drug for us so that it can be administered to our patients. We did not find the drug anywhere in the state,” said Dr Satyajit Singh, managing director of the Ruban Memorial Hospital in Patna’s Patliputra Colony.

Ruban, an NABH-accredited hospital, has been treating cases of coronavirus, and has reported two cases of black fungus as secondary infection developed during the treatment of Covid-19.

“A private doctor residing at Rajendra Nagar locality of Patna and suffering from mucormycosis is serious and in intensive care unit. He contracted the fungus as secondary infection during treatment of coronavirus. He was operated upon yesterday for removal of fungus, but is showing signs of multi-organ failure,” said Dr Singh.

“Another woman in her mid-40s, with the fungal infection is recovering well,” he added.

The number of cases of mucormycosis or black fungus, reported from the state, had gone up to 12, after the two cases at Ruban Hospital and two at Paras-HMRI hospital in Patna recently.

Earlier, seven cases of mucormycosis were reported at AIIMS-Patna and one at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).