10 states left with just 3-4 days’ vaccine stock

10 states left with just 3-4 days’ vaccine stock

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

18.04.2021 

At a time when Covid cases are rising in the country, about 10 states face dwindling vaccine stocks.

The vaccination drive in Maharashtra’s Gondia district was stopped with the district left with just 20 doses while the drive slowed down in Yavatmal, Akola, Buldhana and Washim. Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and West Bengal have stocks that would last them 3-4 days. This has hit plans to ramp up vaccination. In Tamil Nadu, which aims to vaccinate three lakh people a day, now that the assembly elections are over, the stock of 18 lakh doses will last about six days.

Active cases in city cross 10,000-mark

A total of 3,986 fresh cases were recorded in TN on Wednesday and active cases in Chennai breached the 10,000-mark with 1,459 new cases. While 17 deaths took the toll to 12,821, total cases touched 9.11 lakh. The state has 18.18 lakh doses of vaccine and one lakh people were being vaccinated every day. 

Vax crisis has hit plans to ramp up vaccination in many states

Many of these states expect doses to arrive soon and have been pushing the Centre for replenishments.

While Odisha got the intimation that it would receive 3.49 lakh doses of Covishield after April 15, state additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra wrote to Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday, seeking immediate supply of 15 lakh to 20 lakh doses of Covishield. With just 6.5 lakh doses left in stock, Odisha can manage to vaccinate people for three more days.

Andhra Pradesh faces a similar predicament. While its next big consignment — 10.8 lakh doses — is expected around April 15, the state can manage to vaccinate people for 3-4 more days. This can get extended by a few days if the scheduled tranche of 2 lakh doses reaches the state on Thursday.

West Bengal too is uncertain about stocks getting replenished. “We have been allotted about 21lakh more doses of Covishield but no date has been confirmed yet,” said Ashim Das Malakar,state family welfare officer. Following Wednesday’s vaccination, the state has about 12 lakh doses left.

Uttar Pradesh health ministerJai PratapSingh said thereis no shortage of vaccines in the state. However, the present stock —12.33 lakh doses —would last about 3-4 days with UP vaccinating 2.5-3 lakh people a day. The state is expecting about 5 lakh doses early next week.

With Punjab inoculating about 1.5 lakh people a day, its existing stock of about 5 lakh doses would pull the vaccination drive for about 4 more days. The state has raised a demand of about 15 lakh doses. The situation is similar in Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

The shortage has also hit plans to ramp up vaccination in many states. Rajasthan had ramped up its vaccination to 5 lakh a day on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, its plan to vaccinate 7 lakh day has now hit a roadblock.

(With inputs from Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Dehradun, Patna, Ahmedabad, Goa, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai)