Vaccine shortage forces Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to halt inoculation drive today

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has decided to keep all inoculation centres in its limits closed on Friday due to a shortage of doses, though the district registered vaccination of 54,059 beneficiaries on Thursday amid limited stock of shots and early closure of many session sites.
“We have around 1,500 Covishield doses in stock. We also have around 10,000 doses of Covaxin, which have been kept in reserve for the second dose for the beneficiaries,” PCMC commissioner Rajesh Patil said. There are 80 vaccination centres in the PCMC limits and 60% of those are run by the civic body.
Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director (medical), Pune circle, told TOI, “We got to know about the PCMC’s decision to halt the inoculation drive because of the vaccine shortage. As of Thursday evening, we have around 73,000 doses. Of these, around 40,000 are of Covaxin. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has around 25,000 doses, which would ensure the day’s vaccination without much issues.”
Deshmukh added that if the administration received fresh vaccine stock on Friday, it would be distributed on an urgent basis to all inoculation centres.
On Wednesday, the Satara district administration had issued a statement saying they would not conduct the vaccination drive on Thursday due to the vaccine shortage.
The vaccination drive in Pune district saw inoculation of 54,059 people on Thursday. Pune rural continued with the highest vaccination coverage (25,661), followed by PMC (18,480), and PCMC limits (10,018).
The PMC’s Bindumadhav Balasaheb Thackeray hospital in Karvenagar and some other vaccination centres were closed on Thursday afternoon due to the shortage of vaccines. A similar situation was reported from some centres in the PCMC limits.
A district health official said they have sought more vaccines from the state government and were awaiting fresh stock.
PMC additional commissioner Rubal Agarwal said the private hospitals should return the doses, which they might not use, to the civic body.
Resident Priya Franklin said she had her vaccination scheduled at a private hospital for Friday. “On Thursday, a hospital representative told us that vaccines are out of stock. The representative told us to call on Friday at 9am and visit the hospital only if vaccines are available.”
(With inputs fron Prasad Kulkarni, Swati Shinde Gole, and Shyam Sonar)