Most private hospitals in Kolkata have been left with thousands of doses of Covid vaccines that are unlikely to find takers before the expiration date and are approaching other healthcare units to buy the jabs.
However, such entreaties are hardly being responded to as all hospitals and clinics are staring at the possibility of doses going to waste as their use-by dates draw closer.
Several hospitals are trying to exhaust their stocks by organising outreach programmes but there, too, the response has been poor.
Most hospitals said the footfall at their vaccination centres has gone down sharply. At many hospitals less than 100 people are turning up every day for the jab, which is making it difficult for them to exhaust the stocks.
A few months back, hospitals and nursing homes had faced a similar situation when Covaxin vials were nearing the expiration date, which was six months from the date of manufacture.
However, Bharat Biotech, the manufacturers of the vaccine, was allowed to extend the date by another six months.
A number of hospitals said thousands of doses of both Covaxin and Covishield were now nearing the use-by date, which is one year from the date of manufacture.
Peerless Hospital has 9,000 doses of Covishield left, which would expire by March 31.
“We are having 60 to 70 recipients every day. At this rate, we'll have 6,500 doses left, which will have to be thrown away,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.
“We are trying to organise vaccination camps but the response has been poor.”
The hospital is also offering vaccines to other healthcare institutes but there are no takers, said Mitra.
The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences has 3,400 doses of Covishield and 2,400 doses of Covaxin left.
The Covishield doses are set to expire by the middle of March and the Covaxin doses by May.
“We are having only 15 doses of Covaxin and 70 to 80 doses of Covishield. At this rate half the stocks of both vaccines will be left unused,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital.
“We are planning to organise free vaccination camps with the help of NGOs for underprivileged children in the age group of 15 to 18,” said Venkatesh.
In May and June last year, the hospital was having nearly one thousand people coming daily for the jab.
The demand has since gone down for several reasons, said experts. One is that many people in Calcutta had Covid in January, during the omicron-driven third wave. They will not be eligible for the shot before April.
Also, the mild symptoms many patients manifested during the third wave have made people feel there is no need to get vaccinated.
“The Centre should allow third doses for those under 60 to increase the demand,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue Clinic. The hospital is having 30 to 40 people coming for vaccination daily and fears that around 3,000 doses would be wasted.
Some of the hospitals with chains across India are trying to redistribute the doses.
“We have been able to use most of our stocks, i.e. close to 95 per cent of all stocks procured. Only 300 vials are left. This, coupled with the fact that we have national presence, we have been able to redistribute the doses based on requirements of other hospitals of our chain.” said Pratyush Srivastava, zonal director, Fortis Hospital, Anandapur.
