A day after Jharkhand health minister Banna Gupta blamed the Centre for not providing the state with adequate coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines, vaccination drive was seen to be underway in the capital Ranchi after the state government allocated 5,400 Covaxin doses for the region, news agency ANI reported.
According to the in-charge of the Ranchi vaccination centre, the Covaxin doses were allotted on Wednesday and another 200 doses of the Bharat Biotech manufactured vaccine are available for July 1 and 2, the ANI report added.
The in-charge noted that there probably will not be shortage of Covid-19 vaccines because Covishield doses are also expected to arrive in Ranchi soon.
According to official figures, Jharkhand has been administering more than a lakh beneficiaries for the past several days, but on Tuesday, only about 50,000 people were able to receive the jabs. In fact, the vaccination campaign was not conducted at several centres across districts on both Tuesday and Wednesday, thereby reducing vaccine inoculation numbers even more.
The state health department stated that only 99,920 doses of both Covishield and Covaxin were available till Tuesday evening. Nodal officer of the health department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) wing, Siddharth Tripathi said that another 58,950 Covaxin doses arrived in the state on Wednesday evening.
{{/usCountry}}The state health department stated that only 99,920 doses of both Covishield and Covaxin were available till Tuesday evening. Nodal officer of the health department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) wing, Siddharth Tripathi said that another 58,950 Covaxin doses arrived in the state on Wednesday evening.
{{/usCountry}}Gupta, accusing the Centre for the shortage of vaccine doses, said that the state intends to “scale up vaccination” to combat a possible third wave. According to schedule, Jharkhand will receive six lakh vaccine doses on July 2 and a total of 9.5 lakh by July 15.
Recently, Jharkhand’s additional chief secretary (health), Arun Kumar Singh wrote to the Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, seeking for at least 95 per cent of vaccine doses from the Centre. In the letter, Singh also cited that the central government decreased the share of vaccination in private hospitals from 25 per cent to 5 per cent to ensure “reasonable opportunity” for all citizens.