BENGALURU: Many senior citizens seeking a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine returned home without getting the shot in several parts of Bengaluru on Thursday as hospitals claimed they had no supply of the anti-viral drug.
Official data confirmed the shortage as only 35,531 doses were administered till 5.30pm across target groups as against a daily goal of 3 lakh. At St John’s hospital, no sessions were held as the hospital did not receive vaccine vials.
“There must be short supply,” said Dr Ramakrishna Goud, HOD, community medicine, St John’s. “It pains me to say there is no stock of the vaccine. The government must streamline supply. Nearly 1,200 staff in our hospital are awaiting the second dose.”
In a hospital near Hebbal, senior citizens were asked to wait till 2pm and the session began only after the hospital received stock. Apollo Hospitals, Jayanagar, had stock for just one more day.
“There are issues with the distribution pattern,” said Dr Yathish Govindaiah, unit head of the hospital. “We are likely to get more doses by Friday. We administered the vaccine to 120 people today and have 26 vials left. If we do not get more, we may have to halt the drive on Saturday.”
When contacted, Arundhati Chandrashekar, mission director, National Health Mission, Karnataka, claimed the state has a stock of 10 lakh doses, including 4 lakh doses which arrived late on Wednesday. “We have been directing district authorities to redistribute doses among PHCs and hospitals,” she said.
3pm vaccine scenario
In most primary health centres, those seeking vaccination post 3pm are being advised to return the next day. This, staff say, is to ensure doses are not wasted. Unless there are 10 people line up, PHCs are not opening a vial.
“We don’t want to send anyone back without the jab, but we cannot open one vial just for one person. The rest of the doses go waste. Not many come after 3pm,” said a medical officer working at a PHC in Rajarajeshwari Nagar zone. Staffers are asking beneficiaries to either bring more eligible people along or return the next morning.