For the second consecutive day, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) could not administer Covishield vaccine doses due to lack of stock, forcing many to queue up outside SSKM Hospital, since morning, in the hope of getting their first or second doses of the vaccine.
At a time when the possibility of a third wave has put the state administration on their toes, the paucity in vaccines is repeatedly disrupting the inoculation process as this is the second such occasion, within a short duration, that the KMC ran out of Covid vaccine stock.
A KMC notice issued by the chief municipal health officer informed that all 102 urban primary health centres (UPHCs) and 50 mega centres, administering only Covishield vaccines, will remain shut on Saturday too since stocks are yet to arrive. It, however, said vaccination at 40 Covaxin UPHCs and Roxy mega centre will continue as usual.
On finding the Covishield centres run by the KMC closed throughout the city, many rushed to state government hospitals, hoping to find it there. However, it wasn’t just the city inhabitants but also people from adjoining districts who queued up outside the SSKM Hospital since they complained that even the district centres are running short of vaccines.
A KMC official said that two consecutive days of no Covishield supply is causing worries among both the state and civic body health officials. The reason stated by the official was, every time stock comes down to zero forcing KMC to stop vaccination for a temporary period, the rush increases double-fold once the stocks arrive, making it difficult to vaccinate every individual visiting the vaccination centre. This not causes confusion and the resulting chaos but causes a delay in achieving the target of vaccination before the onset of a third wave.
The KMC requires about 35,000 Covishield doses each day for its UPHCs and mega centres to keep running and it is being administered in large numbers compared to Covaxin doses. The KMC has only 39 Covaxin centres and the rest administer Covishield. The civic body official said that the KMC is hoping to receive a fresh batch of Covishield doses by Sunday, and hoping to resume vaccination by Monday. About 3.5 lakh Covishield doses were expected to arrive today.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for more vaccines, said, “West Bengal needs around 14 crore doses of a vaccine to cover the entire population, but it has received only 2.68 crore doses so far from the central government”.