Pune: District receives over 60,000 Covishield, 2,000 Covaxin doses

PUNE: The district received over 60,000 Covishield doses and 2,480 Covaxin doses late on Saturday night, providing a much-needed breather to continue with the vaccination drive for the 18-44 and 45-plus age group.

The vaccine shortage, which had affected vaccination for the 45-plus age group last week due to unavailability of doses will once again resume from Monday across the designated vaccination sites in the district.
As many as 111 sites will offer vaccination to 45-plus beneficiaries on Monday in areas under Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Of the total, 101 will offer Covishield, while 10 sites will offer Covaxin doses. In areas under Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), three sites will offer the second dose Covaxin only.
For the 18-44 age group, PCMC has assigned eight vaccination sites, of which three will offer Covishield, while five will offer Covaxin. For the 18-44 age group, PMC has offered six vaccination sites, of which two will offer Covishield, while the rest will offer Covaxin.
Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director (medical), health services, Pune circle, told TOI, “We have received 39,110 Covishield doses and 2,480 Covaxin doses from the centre, which will be used to vaccinate the 45-plus age group. The 23,200 Covishield doses sent by the state will be used for the vaccination of the 18-44 age group.”
According to Deshmukh, the fresh stock will provide a breather for the next 2-3 days of vaccination. The vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group had commenced from May 1 despite limited availability of doses across a handful of vaccination sites.
The vaccination drive could be continuing at full capacity, if the number of doses available is higher. Deshmukh said that the unavailability of doses had resulted in the closure of vaccination sites on various occasions in the past.
“We are hoping to get another consignment of doses on Tuesday, which will allow smooth vaccination for this week,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, as many as 6,067 beneficiaries were vaccinated across the district. In the PMC and PCMC limits, the vaccination drive was underway only for the 18-44 age group, while in Pune rural areas a few sites offered vaccines to citizens in the 45-plus age category as well.