NEW DELHI: Amid a fresh Covid scare and acute shortage of vaccines, city residents will have to wait for at least one more week to get their doses at the designated centres. Fresh supplies are likely to reach vaccine centres by January 2, officials said.
According to the Health Ministry protocol, states get Covid-19 vaccines from the Union government while private centres obtain supplies directly from manufacturers. The North, North East and Central Delhi have no Covishield and Covaxin doses left, according to sources. “The stock in Central, North and North East districts got over on December 21,” a senior medical officer told TNIE.
Though in a limited capacity, the drive is being run by private centres. But stocks went dry at big centres, too, with many saying low uptake by people was preventing them from ordering fresh orders.
“The enthusiasm for booster jabs has almost died. So we haven’t issued orders for fresh supplies,” said Vibhu Talwar, MD, Moolchand Hospital.
A Delhi government spokesperson said the city government wrote to the Centre on Wednesday requesting the early release of the fresh stock. “We are aware of the problem the city residents are facing. We have informed the Centre and requested the immediate release of the pending stock. We hope to get the fresh supplies soon,” said the spokesperson.
Stock comes from Centre
According to the protocol, states get Covid-19 vaccines from the Union government while private centres obtain supply directly from the manufacturers.