The districts had 26,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine early on Friday, which have now been exhausted. There are 70,000 doses of Covaxin reserved as for administering the second dose to beneficiaries from April 13. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre) Pune, Satara and Solapur districts have run out of Covid-19 vaccine doses, and health authorities have made a fresh demand for 2.5 lakh doses. “We are hoping to get some of the supply by Friday evening,” said Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, Deputy Director, Pune circle, which includes the three districts.
A stock of 2.5 lakh doses has been proposed for Pune district while 25,000 doses each have been sought for Solapur and Satara. The districts had 26,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine early on Friday, which have now been exhausted. There are 70,000 doses of Covaxin reserved as for administering the second dose to beneficiaries from April 13.
On Friday evening Pune district received a stock of one lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses. Deshmukh said another one lakh doses are expected on Saturday.
Across Pune, however, large hospitals with a limited stock are unsure whether they will be able to administer the vaccine on Saturday. Dr Avdhut Bodamwad, medical superintendent at Ruby Hall Clinic, said they had a limited stock and several people, as per their pre-booked appointments, turned up.
“The Aarogya Setu app is taking bookings due to which several beneficiaries turn up at our Covid vaccination centre. With barely some doses left, we cannot administer the vaccine. There has been no fresh supply for the past three to four days,” he said.
At Covid vaccination centres, walk-in beneficiaries are returning without the shot as there is no dose left. For instance, Noble hospital has put up a board saying there are no vaccine doses. “We are not getting a regular supply for two to three days and, hence, put up a board. We hope the supply regularises by Sunday,” said Dr H K Sale, executive director, Noble hospital.
Ayush Prasad, chief executive officer of Pune Zilla Parishad, said they had a limited stock of just 3,000 doses. On an average, 25,000 beneficiaries were being vaccinated daily and, due to this shortfall, the pace of the vaccination drive was slowing down, Prasad said.
‘Supply of remdesivir injections stabilising’
Regarding shortage of remdesivir injections over the past two to three days in Pune, S B Patil, joint commissioner of FDA, Pune division, told The Indian Express that the situation was stabilising. “While 7,400 injections were distributed on Thursday night and Friday morning, another 11,000 injections of remdesivir were expected on Saturday. There has been a paucity of the injection. We had a meeting with doctors, and the district collector will also be issued a notice on stopping the irrational use of the injection,” Patil told The Indian Express.
frameborde
Anil Belkar, secretary of Chemists Association of Pune district, said they had distributed 800 injections and remaining injections were yet to be given to relatives of patients who had lined up outside the Poona hospital drug pharmacy. Some 100 tokens had been distributed and those injections will be given on Saturday, he said.
Dr Ishwar Gilada, secretary general of Organised Medicine Guild, has in a statement issued on Friday said there was a need to rationalise the use of the medicine. Racketeering of remdesivir should be punishable under the Epidemic Diseases Act, he added.
– Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
