Bengal has barely two days’ stock of Covid-19 vaccine doses and several centres in Calcutta had to suspend vaccination on Friday and a few others said they could not administer the jabs on Saturday because of the shortage.
An official in the state health department said on Friday evening Bengal had about eight lakh vials of Covid vaccines left. On an average, three to four lakh vials are required across the state every day.
“We were supposed to receive a consignment of vaccines from the Centre on Friday but it didn’t come. Officials in Delhi were unable to tell us when the next consignment would be sent. If we don’t get fresh supply by Monday or Tuesday, vaccination will come to a stop. We asked the Centre on Friday to supply vaccines on an emergency basis,” the official said.
The health department, he said, has been restricting supply of vials to hospitals and other vaccination centres.
Several states have complained of shortage of supply of vaccines. Maharashtra has said it had to close many vaccination centres for want of doses.
“There is a lack of transparency on the part of Union government officials. They must clearly tell us what is the situation and when we can expect the next consignment,” said the official of Bengal’s health department.
Several hospitals in Calcutta had to temporarily stop vaccination on Friday because of the shortage.
Belle Vue Clinic had to suspend vaccination for an hour from 4.30pm.
“We had sought 35 vials from the health department on Friday but received only 20. We had 11 more from Thursday’s supply but all 31 were exhausted by 4.30pm,” said Pradip Tondon, the CEO of Belle Vue.
There were at least 50 people waiting for doses at that time. The hospital sought more vials and got five. Vaccination resumed at 5.30pm, Tondon said.
Other hospitals, too, said they got much less than what they had asked for.
The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences had sought 35 vials on Friday but got only 25.
“We had a few vials left from yesterday, which we used today. There’ll be no vaccination on Saturday at our hospital because there is no stock and also because of the elections,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, of which the RN Tagore hospital is a part. “The health department has promised to send a few vials of Covaxin on Sunday. If we get those, some people will be vaccinated on Sunday but many have to be asked to come on a later date.”
AMRI Hospitals Salt Lake, too, will not run vaccination on Saturday. “We have not received any vials. We'll be forced to put up posters stating ‘No Vaccine Available’ at the AMRI Salt Lake vaccination centre till we receive further supplies,” said an official of the hospital.
An official of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) said the civic body would barely manage to vaccinate on Saturday. There will be fewer recipients on Saturday because of elections in Kasba, Jadavpur, Tollygunge and Behala.
“There will not be adequate stock for Sunday,” the official said. The CMC has been vaccinating more than 11,000 people from its 80 health clinics every day.
“It could be we will be vaccinating whoever comes till stocks last,” said an official..
If a steady supply of vaccine doses does not resume, the civic body’s plan to scale up vaccination could be hampered. The CMC has planned to start vaccination in 40 more clinics — taking the total number of clinics running vaccination to 120 — from the middle of April. But uncertainty about vaccine supply could derail the plan.