The severity of the shortage of Covid-19 vaccines can be seen in Wardha, which has on some days found it difficult to administer even a single dose since July 9.
District health officers said that they have not been receiving adequate doses. Meanwhile, health experts have blamed the administration for the poor performance.
The Free Press Journal has analysed the data provided by the state Health Department, which revealed that between July 1 and July 25, Wardha recorded zero vaccinations for 11 days. Moreover, the district, with a population of 13 lakh, has only administered 1,04,699 doses so far. While less populated districts, such as Bhandara and Gondia, have administered 1,07,481 and 1,48,274 doses, respectively.
Senior health officers from Wardha district have attributed this poor performance to two factors. The district gets around 15,000 to 18,000 doses after two to three days, which is limited. To avoid wastage of doses, the entire stock is utilised in one day. Therefore, the vaccination drive has to be halted the next day.
“We are vaccinating as many people as we can in the district. However, we have limited stock. This month, we haven’t received enough stock. Therefore, the drive had to be halted. Moreover, we make sure there is no wastage of doses. So, we administer all doses we get at one go. Then, we have to wait for the next consignment,” said an officer.
Meanwhile, the health experts have blamed the administration for zero vaccinations in the district when other districts are vaccinating people daily. “The district health officer should understand the importance of the vaccination drive. There is a huge shortage of vaccines across Maharashtra, so they should plan the drive and vaccinate limited people,” said Dr Abhijeet More, co-convenor, Jan Arogya Abhiyaan.
