E-Paper
35K Covishield doses arrive in Pune, but shortages affect vaccination drive
PUNE The city has been facing an irregular supply of vaccines, even as it continues to remain one of the worst- affected areas in the country
PUNE The city has been facing an irregular supply of vaccines, even as it continues to remain one of the worst- affected areas in the country.
On Tuesday the vaccination drive in Pune took a hit as the city did not have any Covishield doses. Only Covaxin doses, reserved for second doses, and those Covishield doses already with hospitals, were administered on Tuesday.
A fresh stock of 35,000 doses of Covishield arrived on Tuesday evening.
As of Monday night, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had no Covishield stock and fresh stock arrived only late on Tuesday and has been distributed to centres for Wednesday’s vaccination drive.
At its Narayan peth vaccine store the PMC had only 9,000 doses of Covaxin on Monday, all reserved for second doses.
On Tuesday noon, Dr Vaishali Jadhav, assistant health officer at PMC’s health department said, “We had no stock of Covishield available as of Tuesday afternoon, but there are about 8,000-9,000 doses of Covishield in the pipeline, which is already distributed at various centres. All will be used for first and second doses on Wednesday. Also, there are about 9,000-10,000 doses of Covaxin, all of which are currently reserved for second doses.”
On an average, 49,642 people have got the vaccine in Pune in the past six days.
Dr Devkar Suryakant, PMC’s officer in charge of the vaccination, said, “We got 35,000 doses of Covishield which will be enough for two days for both government and private hospitals. On Saturday and Sunday, we opened only 50% of the centres to give a day’s leave to the staff who have been working without a single day’s leave. We were expecting the stock to come last night (Monday) itself, but got it on Tuesday and it has already been distributed to the centres. Vaccination will carry on smoothly on Wednesday.”
On Tuesday, many centres saw beneficiaries returning due to the restricted number of vaccines available. Aditya Gaikwad, a resident of Dhankawadi, said, “Many citizens were eager to get the vaccine, but due to restricted numbers, they had to return without getting the jab. Today, 125 people are to get the second dose of Covaxin at the Dhankawadi centre, of which 25 people came through registration and the others have tokens.”
