The Odisha government on Wednesday said it was forced to shut down 700 of its vaccination centres due to a scarcity of coronavirus vaccines even as the second wave of the pandemic has hit India. The state added it had supplies left only for two more days.

In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that as of April 7, Odisha had a stock of 5.34 lakh doses of Covishield – the vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India – in its inventory.

“With this stock, we will be able to continue vaccination for the next two days,” Patnaik said. “By 9th April, there will be stock-out of Covishield vaccine in the entire state.”

Patnaik said this will adversely impact timely administration of second dose of vaccine as well as delay in vaccination of citizens who are 45 years and above. “Odisha is vaccinating about 2.5 lakh persons daily,” he said. “Due to shortage of vaccine, we have had to close nearly 700 vaccination centers in the state (out of over 1400 functional sites, only 755 could be made active today [Wednesday]).”

He added that his government repeatedly raised the matter with the Union health ministry, but to no avail. “Therefore, I would like to draw your kind attention to this matter and request you to lake necessary steps for supplying at least 10 days’ stock ie. 25 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine to the state immediately for effective vaccination of the targeted population,” the chief minister told Vardhan.

Not the first state to complain of supply shortage

India is facing a major challenge inoculating its own population. The country’s largest vaccine producer, the Serum Institute has raised concerns about its ability to meet their production targets.

The country started its vaccination drive on January 16, by initially administering doses only to healthcare and frontline workers. On March 1, the drive was expanded to senior citizens above the age of 60 years and those above 45 with co-morbidities. On April 1, it was widened to all above the age of 45.

So far, over nine crore vaccine doses have been administered across the country. Many states have criticised the government for restricting India’s immunisation drive to certain target groups.

Six states, including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, have complained of vaccine shortages. The Union health minister, in turn, accused state governments of making “deplorable attempts” to spread panic.

The latest challenge comes as India grapples a severe second wave, which is far worse than last year’s peak in mid-September.

On Thursday, the country recorded 1,26,789 new cases of coronavirus, in yet another record high count of infections reported in a single day since the pandemic began. The country’s overall count rose to 1,29,28,574 and the toll went up to 1,66,862, with new 685 deaths.

Might have to halt vaccination soon, says Maharashtra

While the Centre dismissed concerns about shortages, authorities in Maharashtra, which is the worst-affected in the country, warned that the state may be forced to halt vaccination for four to five days next week, if stocks are not replenished urgently, The Indian Express reported.

The state has a stock of 15.76 doses of Covaxin and Covishield. Authorities say these are likely to be exhausted in three days.

The health officials have now asked for a minimum of 40 lakh doses to meet its daily target of vaccinating 4.5 lakh citizens. “We have been informed by the Centre that new stocks will come by April 15,” state Health Secretary Pradeep Vyas told the newspaper. “In that case, we may have to halt vaccination for a few days.”

As per an analysis by the The Indian Express of the stock of vaccines across districts in the state, Aurangabad, Nandurbar, Gadchiroli and rural regions had excess supplies due to poor turnout. But Navi Mumbai, Thane, Mumbai, Nashik, Satara have stocks that will last a day or two.

Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Bangar told the newspaper they would exhaust vaccine supplies by Wednesday evening. “We have informed the government that we can’t run our centres tomorrow [Thursday] if there is no new supply,” he added.

Panvel Municipal Corporation announced it will suspend vaccination from Thursday due to the shortage. In the capital city Mumbai, too, vaccination centres complained they had stock to last just two days.

Satara Collector Shekhar Singh said they had to turn away a few recipients on Wednesday itself. In Sangli district, health officials said they ran out of stocks at 3 pm that day. Solapur Municipal Commissioner Astik Kumar Pandey too said they will soon need more vaccines, according to The Indian Express.

Unfair criticism, says states

Meanwhile, officials from Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope’s office told The Indian Express that he will write to the Union health minister, responding to the Centre’s criticism that the states were not doing enough to contain the spread of the disease, and that they were creating distractions by complaining about vaccine shortages.

Officials pointed out that Maharashtra had done the maximum vaccinations in comparison to states like Uttar Pradesh that have a larger population. “Maharashtra has increased overall testing, 70% of it is RT-PCR,” an official said. “For the Centre to say we have not done enough is not fair.”

Similarly, Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo told Scroll.in that while he did not want to indulge in a “blame game”, he wanted to “make it clear” that there was indeed a shortage of vaccines.

“If you see the last couple of days, the number of vaccinations have dropped,” Deo said. “It has happened because the stocks were not there.” Deo pointed towards the state’s daily vaccination numbers, which hit a high of 3.26 lakh on April 2 before tapering off. “That is because of supply chain issues,” he said.

Fresh stocks, however, arrived on Wednesday, Deo added. “As of today, we have been supplied with doses that would last us three days at three lakh vaccinations per day and an assurance that the supply will not dry up.”