Covid vaccines shortage halts drive in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: With cases of Covid rising in various parts of the country, state government is once again stressing the need for complete vaccination. Surprisingly, a majority of the private hospitals that have set up vaccine centres closed them after the third wave and are yet to reopen them.
With no vaccine stocks in the government stores till recently, most of the government centres have also been closed, leaving vaccine seekers in the lurch. Although 41-year-old Krishna Naik had taken the first two doses of the Covid-19 vaccination during the peak of the second wave, he was doubtful about taking the precaution dose.
That was until a recent plan to travel abroad cropped up. Now, he is doing the rounds of hospitals for taking the dose but is not able to find any. Like Naik, parents of a 12-year-old boy has been hunting for the vaccine ahead of their trip to Europe.
“Since many cases are being reported, we wanted our son to be vaccinated but we could not find the vaccine in 6-7 hospitals we visited. Ultimately, we went for the holiday without getting the vaccine,” said Rekha Nayyar.
The government has arranged for five lakh doses of Corbevax to begin the booster doses, but again these will be opened only when there are 10 people so that the vial is not wasted, said an official.
“There is hardly a person who walks in asking for the vaccine dose and it usually happens when they are in a hurry to travel. When the precaution doses administrati-on began, there was lukewa-rm response. That compelled us to close the centre,” said a representative from a hospital in Secunderabad.