Ghaziabad faces vax shortage, likely to run out of doses soon

Ghaziabad: The district, with only 6,000 vaccine doses available with its health department, is staring at a crisis. The number is not enough to sustain the vaccination drive on most days.
With no directions from the Uttar Pradesh government or the administration, the drive to inoculate all over 18 years hangs in limbo. Even the ongoing vaccinations may come to a complete halt by next week.
An official from the health department said, “The vaccinations for those in the 18-plus category should have started from Saturday, but Ghaziabad is not one of the seven districts selected by the state government for the drive.”
“We are still in the process of collating data on the number of people who have registered for vaccinations. On Saturday, several people turned up at the vaccination centres only to be told that they should not come until they are allotted dates,” added the official.
Official data reveals that the number of people in the 60+ and 45+ categories turning up for the jabs has been falling. The government had set a target to inoculate 2,16,000 recipients in April but could meet only 80% of the target.
“Leave aside the 18-plus category, with the stock that we have, we will not be able to vaccinate people under the existing category,” said the official.
On Saturday, the administration vaccinated only 3,998 people. The vaccinations were not carried out in private centres.
“We are also facing a severe manpower crisis. While most of us are busy managing hospitals, a few of us are down with Covid. Under these circumstances, it is getting difficult to maintain the rate of vaccinations,” said the official
The vaccination figures were low in Noida too on Saturday. All those in the ‘under-45’ category, were left waiting as they did not get any response for the slots. Also, there were no new registrations during the day.
In total, 2,,681 people were vaccinated in Gautam Budh Nagar on Saturday. The private hospitals in the district did not conduct the vaccination drive, following instructions from the administration. A total of 25 government centres gave the jabs on Saturday.