JAGATSINGHPUR: Acute shortage of vaccines has marred the much-hyped ‘Tika Utsav’, the four-day immunisation drive announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from April 11 to 14, in the district.
The State government had sent nearly 12,000 vaccines on Thursday last but the doses lasted for only three days. Due to the scarcity, only one of the total 37 vaccination centres is currently operational in the district. Jagatsinghpur requires nearly 3 lakh vaccines but only 1.06 lakh Covishield doses have been supplied to the district so far.
The administration has halted vaccination at 36 centres citing shortage of stock. The lone centre is running from the district headquarters hospital (DHH). Sources said hundreds of people are returning from the closed centres disappointed in absence of doses. Apart from the 37 government-run vaccination centres, two private ones at Paradip port and IOCL were also opened in the district. The private facilities charged Rs 250 per person for the Covid dose.
While both Paradip Port Trust and IOCL gave Rs 150 to the government, the rest Rs 100 was used for administering vaccines. However, these two centres have been also closed due to vaccine scarcity. Currently, the Covid situation in Jagatsinghpur is not yet alarming with only three to four positive cases being reported daily.
Locals allege that Jagatsinghpur is being deprived of the required quantity of vaccines as Covid doses have been diverted to the worst-hit districts which are witnessing a steep rise in positive cases. District Immunisation Officer PK Barik said, “Jagatsinghpur received 12,000 vaccines which were exhausted on Saturday. Only 800 doses are available now at the vaccination centre in the DHH which would last a day.
We need at least 5,000 vaccines every day for the immunisation drive but there is no stock.” Meanwhile, the district reported six positive cases on Sunday as compared to only two on Saturday. So far, Jagatsinghpur has reported 9,237 cases out of which 9,160 have recovered. Only 39 cases are active.