Due to shortage, Covid-19 vaccination slows down in Gurgaon

Even though Gurgaon has administered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine to over 89 percent of its population, the pace of the vaccination campaign in the district has slowed down over the last one week, as the health department grapples with a massive shortage of vaccines. With no word from the Haryana government on fresh stocks, the situation is set to continue over the next few days.

As per health department data, the number of people who have been inoculated in the week between July 5 and July 11 are less than half the number inoculated in the preceding week, between June 28 and July 4. While 1,79,678 people were vaccinated last week, only 76,947 people were inoculated this week.

Of those vaccinated last week, 1,12,399 received their first dose of the vaccine while 44,902 received their second dose. This week, 45,951 people have received their first dose while only 30,996 have received their second dose.

In view of “limited availability” of vaccines, no vaccination was done at government sites in the district on Sunday, including for foreign travellers. Even the Sputnik V vaccine, which was launched at government health centres on Saturday, was not administered a day later. Vaccination did, however, continue as usual at private hospitals.

“We have limited availability of vaccines at the moment, so we did not do any vaccination at any of our sites on Sunday. We will be accumulating our entire stock and planning for the vaccination campaign in the coming days. Only second doses will be administered at government sites for the next one or two days,” said Gurgaon Civil Surgeon Dr Virender Yadav.

As a result, Gurgaon recorded its lowest vaccination numbers for the week on Sunday, with only 3,940 people being inoculated. In comparison, in the preceding week, the lowest number of vaccinations happened on July 4, when 11,313 people were vaccinated.

The schedule for Covid vaccination at government health centres, shared by the health department and district administration on Sunday evening, also confirmed that at least on Monday, only second doses of the Covid vaccine will be administered at 25 of the 26 government sites in the district, with 100 slots available at each. The only site offering first doses will be the Sector 31 Polyclinic, where 50 slots will be available for the first dose of the Sputnik V vaccine.

Officials said a total of 15,57,966 people have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine in Gurgaon so far. In a district that has a ‘potential population’ of 17,40,740, this means 89.5 percent of the population has been vaccinated.

Confirming this, Dr Yadav said, “More than 89 percent of the people in Gurgaon have received at least their first dose of the vaccine.”