Kolkata: Bengal will need 47 doses of lakh vaccines to cover only the second dose recipient who qualified – at an average of 1.5 lakh jab every day – in July, according to the sources of the Ministry of Health.
This is seven lakh more vaccine shots received by the country in June.
Most of the 47 recipients of the Lakh vaccine ride the covishield, the remaining covaxin.
If the country wants to continue vaccination for those aged 45-plus ages who have not received the first dose, as well as priority groups in the 18-plus group, the minimum requirement in July will shoot up to almost 1 crore dose.
If the private vaccination center provides 14% of Jab (as they have on average in recent months), the country will still need at least 86 lakh doses to fulfill the second dose obligation.
“There is an indication that we will get around 70 doses of lakh in July.
Meanwhile it will include the second dose requirements, quantum needs to be done to continue the momentum of vaccination drive,” said a health department official.
Crunch vaccines are not felt until the third week of June when the second dose of the Covishield was suspended in mid-May, when the gap between two doses increased to 12-16 weeks.
But with the second dose window opened from June 23, the request has been penetrated.
On Wednesday, Bengal received a supply of 4.54,570 vaccine doses in two consignments.
Of this amount, 50,000 doses are covaxin and the rest of the covishield.
“Our target is to cover 7 crore people during this inoculation drive, which we need 14 doses of crore.
So far, we have provided 2.2 doses of crore.
At present, we give around 3 doses of lakh a day while we are able to provide up to 8 lakh The dose a day, as long as there is adequate supply.
Hopefully, the supply will increase in July, “said an official Swasthya Bhavan.
The supply gap in the vaccine has forced the Ministry of Health to establish supplies to government vaccination centers, which lead to a long queue and many returns without receiving their Jab.
At the Belowaghata ID Hospital, the number of people who appeared for vaccines on Wednesday doubled from the number of vaccines offered by the hospital.
Those who went disappointed were asked to return on Thursday.
“We finished the fourth place on a trip in this country at first.
And, with the type of powerful immunization system we have, there is no reason why we cannot perform better if we get the necessary inventory on time,” said Sajib Community Medical Specialist Bandyopadhaya, vaccination supervisor at the hospital.
Most centers attached to government hospitals are now less than capacity.
This, they said, because the supply for them from the district vaccine shop had been cut by almost half.
“At present, we only manage 400 doses a day.
We can easily mate up to 800 if there is enough vaccine,” said medical representative of the Deputy Inspector Deputy Inspector Amit Hazra, who was also a vaccination coordinator at the hospital.
Bengal will need a 47L shot to meet the July 2 dose target
