Private hospitals bear the brunt of vaccine shortage

Private hospitals bear the brunt of vaccine shortage

29/04/2021

Wilson Thomas COIMBATORE

Many private hospitals in Coimbatore have complained of shortage of COVID-19 vaccines as they are unable to administer doses to people who come for first and second jabs alike.

Some hospitals had to send back people who had come from faraway places after making registrations through the CoWIN portal.

One of the directors of a private hospital told The Hindu that it was unable to give first and second shots to people who came for vaccination on Wednesday.

“We had to return people who took the first dose of Covaxin from our centre and came for the second shot on Wednesday due to lack of supply. Covishield also ran out of stock.

The Health Department is not giving clear information regarding the supply due to which we are unable to give assurance to people,” said the director-cum-doctor.

He added that if the shortage of supply persists, the crisis will escalate from May 1 when vaccine rollout for all aged above 18 starts.

An administrative official from a private hospital in Coimbatore said that private hospitals were not getting proper communication about the registrations done through CoWIN portal.

“People come to private vaccination centres after making registration through the CoWIN portal. However, the centres are not getting details of the registrations from the central portal. The portal allows registration for vaccination from a centre when it is not having vaccine stock.

We had to send back people who had come from faraway places,” said the official.

According to the official, the hospital had returned vaccine doses to the Health Department after it demanded and they were not allotted again.

“We are having minimal stock. We have not been informed about the next allotment though we are constantly contacting the Health Department,” said a spokesperson of another hospital.

An official in the know of vaccine supply in Coimbatore district said that the stock at the main walk-in cooler of the Health Department was minimal. He added that all the districts in the State were in the wait for adequate stock of vaccines.