No stock with Tricity admin for vaccinating 18-plus today

With no Covishield or Covaxin in stock for those above the age of 18 and an already depleting number of the vaccines for those above 45, the health departments of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali said they will not be vaccinating anyone in the cohort of 18-45 till at least Monday.

UT advisor Manoj Parida said the next phase of the vaccination drive will not start on May 1. “The existing stock of nearly one lakh vaccines will be used for persons above 45 for the first or second dose. For above-18 new beneficiaries, vaccination will start only after adequate extra supplies are received,” announced Parida.

Mohali DC Girish Dayalan said that the paid stock of COVID vaccine meant for vaccination of 18 to 44 years age group has not been received at the state level due to which their vaccination will commence only after the receipt of vaccine but they can continue with their registration on the portal. ‘‘In the meanwhile, the free vaccination of 45 year old people will continue unabated,’’ said Dayalan, adding, “We are leading the State in vaccination per million population; as of now over 2 lac persons have been vaccinated in the district including health care workers.’’

Panchkula District Immunization Officer Dr Meenu Sasan said, “We will receive supplies for the vaccination program only by Sunday evening and the drive for those below 45 will begin on Monday.”

The Panchkula district, despite a promising start, had almost run out of its vaccine stock on April 24 and had to slow down the drive. While earlier an average of 2500 persons per day were being vaccinated at more than 30 centres in the district, the number has now fallen to an average of 1000 vaccinations a day at 15 centres.

It was on April 22 that the two centres ran out of vaccines by early noon. Only 2000 Covishield and 10,000 Covaxin vaccines were then left in stock. With fresh stocks on April 28, only 4000 Covishield and 5000 Covaxin doses are left.