18 districts had nil vax stock on Sat

18 districts had nil vax stock on Sat

No Camp in Coimbatore For 7th Day; Similar Plight In Southern Districts too

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.07.2021

Most vaccination centres across the state were closed after more than 18 districts reported nil stock on Saturday. By 10pm, TN received 5 lakh doses of Covishield, which were dispatched to districts by road late in the night. Officials said districts will resume vaccination from Sunday but those requiring Covaxin – first or second dose – will have to wait until Tuesday, when the next stock of the vaccine is expected.

The state, which had around 20,000 doses, recorded 27,922 vaccinations on Saturday. Officials said the daily count includes several backlog entries. “Some primary health centres (PHCs) and hospitals do not enter the details of recipients every day. Some of these backlog entries get added to the daily list. Also, nurses manage to squeeze out up to at least 11 doses from every 10-dose vial,” said joint director immunisation Dr K Vinay Kumar.

Over the past week, the state has reported a maximum of 1.3 lakh vaccinations in a day compared to 4.7 lakh on July 3. Coimbatore, which reported nil doses, had no vaccination camps for the seventh day in a row. While most districts in the western belt complained of the same problem, the situation wasn’t different in the southern districts. In Madurai, around 1,000 people were vaccinated on Saturday. Most people who received shots got it through special camps organised by the district health authorities, but what has irked senior citizens is the lack of information. “I am trying to get information on the availability of vaccines. I have called helplines and have asked people I know. Most say there is no vaccine. My husband and I were due for the second dose on July 5,” said A Sundari a resident of Tahsildar Nagar. To make things worse, she got a text message reminding her to get the second dose on time.

In the midst of acute vaccine shortage, state commercial taxes minister P Moorthy inaugurated a special vaccination camp organised by the state labour welfare department. He told reporters that 4,000 construction workers have received their first dose and that steps were on to vaccinate autorickshaw drivers and industrial workers. “We are vaccinating as many people as possible every day. The number of vaccinations depend on the number of vaccines received,” he said.

HURDLE TO FIGHT COVID:

An elderly woman returns after seeing a ‘no vaccine stock’ board at the urban primary health centre at Villapuram, Madurai, on Saturday