Covaxin supply to streamline this month; Covishield shortage persists in Pune

PUNE: Supply of Covaxin to the government-run vaccination sites will streamline this month, officials of the public health department said. This will boost the vaccination of first dose beneficiaries, as the focus amid low supply was to cover second dose recipients.
Covishield, which has been administered to over 90% of the total 62 lakh beneficiaries in the district, is still in short supply at the government-run vaccination sites, the officials said.

Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director (medical), Pune circle, told TOI, “The district received a steady supply of over 46,000 Covaxin doses and around 52,000 Covishield doses on August 3 and more doses are expected on Saturday. Now that more Covishield beneficiaries are due for the second dose, the first dose of Covaxin can be made available. We have suggested this to the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic bodies.”
Suryakant Devkar, Pune civic body’s immunisation officer, said some of the special drives offering Covishield were now using Covaxin. “We cannot stop the special drives due to the shortage of Covishiled. So, we are offering Covaxin to the beneficiaries now. The shortage has affected over 190 vaccination sites across the civic limits,” he said.
Meanwhile, the district vaccinated only 26,680 beneficiaries on Friday because of the short supply of Covishield doses.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials said they would conduct only Covaxin drive across seven sites on Saturday, while the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corproations (PCMC) officials said they too would be conducting only Covaxin drive across eight vaccination sites.