Kumari Palany & Co

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Short supply of vaccine affects vaccination progress in Chennai!

Posted on: 07/May/2021 12:36:03 PM
The Greater Chennai Corporation was vaccinating more than 25000 citizens per day over the last few weeks however, in the last 4 days, only 9000 citizens are being vaccinated due to a shortage of vaccines. Citizens are being sent back with Covishield also being short supply.

Dr J Radhakrishnan, the secretary of the Department of Health of the State Government of Tamil Nadu, observed: We had placed orders with 2 vendors 7.86 Lakhs vials from one and 2.65 Lakhs vials from another. We will start receiving the order from today (Friday, 7th March). Apart from that, we are working on placing more orders!

However, districts such as Madurai are continuing with the same number of vaccinations per day despite the shortage. An official from Madurai explained, Only Covaxin is in short supply. We are administering only Covishield so, we dont have any issue!

In Coimbatore and Chennai, however, with both being administered in Corporation hospitals and UPHCs, citizens are being turned away!  An official from GCC shared: We are not only prioritizing the 2nd dose of Covaxin and are not administering it as the first dose to anyone. Covishield supply remains the same.

In this status, citizens are anxious about the shortage of vaccine and also worried whether the undue delay in 2nd dose would be ok!

Health experts said that with vaccination being the only option, the government should work on getting vaccines from the open market and place big orders!

A senior epidemiologist in the Chennai Metro City observed: A day of lockdown will cost them more than paying for their vaccinations. They can use the money to vaccinate citizens at a faster pace to avoid a crisis like in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi!