Shortage of vaccine stops Gurugram from scaling up sites

GURUGRAM: A total of 1,357 recipients in the age group of 18 plus took their first jab on Tuesday in the city.
Due to the shortage of vaccines for the 18 plus age group, the health department is setting up just 22 session sites in the city from past two days.
According to the officials, they are waiting for the second consignment of vaccines to arrive to scale up the number of centres. The city had received 18,000 vaccine doses on May 1 and 14,000 on Monday for this phase.
“We have yet to receive more vaccines from the state. As and when we get the vaccines, we will ramp up the drive,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram. He also said that he has already written to the state government to provide more doses of vaccines.
For the recepients eligible for their second dose, the city received 13,000 doses on Monday. On Tuesday, a total of 4,017 people in the 45 plus age group got vaccinated in the city at 37 session sites. Overall 4.28 lakh people are eligible for getting the jabs, of whom 3.80 lakh have already taken the shot.
Meanwhile, 66 healthcare and 154 frontline workers were also inoculated on Tuesday. Because of unavailability of vaccines several people are still unable to get their second jab.
“I have been trying to get an appointment for my second dose for the last one week. No luck. How long can I wait?” asked Puneet Verma, a resident of Sector 31.
Another resident, Anuj Gupta of Sector 56, said, “I am searching for Covaxin for my second dose. Private hospitals are not carrying out sessions in Gurugram.”
Meanwhile, the health department said that private hospitals have to procure their vaccine doses on their own. “We are not responsible for providing vaccine doses to private hospitals any more. The hospitals are supposed to get their vaccine directly from the companies,” Yadav said.