Vaccination drive takes a hit in Bengaluru as stocks run dry

Bengaluru The vaccination drive, which the Karnataka government is banking on to contain the Covid-19 surge, has taken a huge setback as stocks run dry in most private hospitals and medical facilities in Bengaluru

Bengaluru

HT Image

The vaccination drive, which the Karnataka government is banking on to contain the Covid-19 surge, has taken a huge setback as stocks run dry in most private hospitals and medical facilities in Bengaluru.

Boards stating “No vaccination today” were seen on most private hospital gates on Friday while those visiting public medical facilities were sent back without inoculation, according to multiple persons aware of the developments.

“Except Manipal and Apollo, no other private hospital has a single dose of vaccine now,” Dr Prasanna HM, the president-elect of the Private Hospitals & Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) told Hindustan Times.

It comes even as the BS Yediyurappa-led government has withdrawn its earlier practice to distribute vaccines to private hospitals, asking them instead to procure on their own.

“We are under tremendous pressure to give the second dose for all those who took the first dose. We are unable to answer them and request them to go to government facilities and take it,” Prasanna added.

Both Manipal and Apollo hospitals, where vaccination drive continued, said they have procured stocks from manufacturers directly.

Karnataka’s vaccination drive has seen a sharp decline since May 1, as per the daily bulletin of the state health department.

Inaccurate reporting of vaccine data was another big challenge to gauge the actual number of inoculations in the state, experts said.

According to the daily bulletin, only 62417 vaccinations were carried out in the state on Friday till 3 pm. However, senior government officials claimed the actual number was higher ,adding that the discrepancy was due to the format of reporting the numbers.

Even if their version is believed, the daily vaccination numbers are far short of Yediyurappa’s aim of increasing the vaccination to 300,000 per day, as announced on 17 March.

The lax in vaccination has come at a time when the caseload in Karnataka has breached all previous records. The state and its capital Bengaluru are among the worst impacted regions in the country.

On Friday, Karnataka reported 48,781 new infections , taking the active caseload to 536,641. Bengaluru accounted for 21,376 new cases, taking its total active case count to 341,978. A record 592 persons succumbed to the viral disease in Karnataka, taking the toll in the state to 17,804. Bengaluru reported 346 deaths on Thursday, taking its toll due to Covid-19 to 7,149, according to the daily bulletin of the health department.

Going by the daily bulletin, a total of 866,533 vaccine shots have been administered in the state from April 28 till Thursday. During the same time, there have been 421,159 new Covid-19 infections from across the state, data shows.

Though Karnataka is the first state to cross the 10-million vaccination mark, a closer look of state data shows that most of them are people who received only the first dose.

Out of the 10,316,686 vaccinations, 8,426,383 account for the first dose and only 1,890,303 have received both doses, according to government data.

A senior government official said around 300,000 doses of vaccine were left in Karnataka and new stocks are expected at the earliest.

Karnataka has ordered 10 million doses of Covishield vaccine from Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) at a cost of ₹400 crore, but the delivery has been delayed.

While the focus remains on Bengaluru, one of the worst impacted regions in the country, the other 29 districts of Karnataka have witnessed a sharp surge of cases. According to experts, the worry is that if the health infrastructure in Bengaluru was crumbling, the situation in other districts, some of which are among the most backward in the country, is unimaginable.

“We have created a lot of facilities. Last time, taluka hospitals did not have oxygen, this time we have them. District hospitals have been ramped up. Number wise oxygenated beds have been ramped up almost six times,” a senior official at the health department told Hindustan Times, requesting anonymity.

P Ravi Kumar, the state’s chief secretary said that vaccine stocks come in every two days and there were no shortages.