Shortage of vaccine clouds next phase in Panchkula
Amit Bathla
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, April 28
Even as the registration for Covid-19 vaccine for all adults began today, the rollout of the next phase of the drive has been clouded with the dependency on the availability of vaccine.
With just two days to go, the Health Department is expecting to receive more doses from the state government. The obvious question that remains unanswered is when. The district has already been struggling to meet the current vaccine demand due to a limited supply.
Only three vaccination centres – Sector 12-A Community Centre, Sector 26 Government Polyclinic and MDC Sector 4 Government Dispensary — are operational in urban Panchkula.
The preference is being given to those visiting to receive the second jab.
On the plans for rollout of the next phase, Dr Meenu Sasan, District Immunisation Officer, said they would add more centres once they receive the stock from the state government to vaccinate people between 18 and 45 years.
“Everything depends upon supply. There is no hard and fast rule. We can conduct vaccination at additional centres if we have enough stock to vaccinate the targeted group,’’ she said. She said currently, they had 4,350 doses of Covishield and 15,900 doses of Covaxin in stock.
She said vaccination at many centres across the city, including the Civil Hospital, has been suspended due to a rise in Covid cases and staff getting infected.
Meanwhile, Haryana Speaker and local MLA Gian Chand Gupta said today that the district would add 20-22 vaccination centres ahead of the next phase. However, the Health Department did not confirm this statement.
The shortage of vaccine has slowed down the drive at a time when the district is grappling with the deadly second wave of Covid. The district targets to vaccinate 2.57 lakh people in the 18-45 age group. As many as 1.38 lakh doses of vaccine have been administered in the district so far.
