HYDERABAD: After the sudden Covid scare, people in the State are rushing to get the third precautionary dose in government and private hospitals. As the queries for vaccines are gradually increasing, hospitals are readying to procure vaccine doses and there are reports of shortage of both Covishield and Covaxin.
According to the daily Covid bulletin issued by the Director of Public Health and Family Welfare, 84,250 doses of Covishield and 8,73,240 doses of Covaxin are available. The State-administered 1,523 doses of third precautionary doses on Sunday, the bulletin said.
Hoping to schedule an appointment for the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for himself and his wife, Srikhande Umesh Kumar, a private employee, approached PS Rao Nagar Anganwadi in Medchal Malkajgiri district on Saturday evening. He had to return disappointed as an ASHA worker there told him that the vaccines were not available.
He told TNIE that the vaccine shots were not available in the entire Keesara PHC. “A lot of people living in this area are facing the same problem. The ASHA worker also told me that the vaccine was not available anywhere in the district,” Umesh Kumar said.
When enquired, some hospitals in Hyderabad revealed that they had less stocks available. Aster Prime Hospital in Ameerpet has only Covaxin stock. “There has been no vaccine available for more than three months. A lot of people have enquired about the availability of doses in the last four days,” said D Sandeep, Managing Director of SVS Institute of Neurosciences in Kacheguda. Now the institute is planning to come up with a mechanism to restart procurement, he added.
During a review meeting conducted by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya with States on Friday, Health Minister T Harish Rao asked the Centre to supply enough doses to the State to speed up the vaccination. He also informed the Union minister that the State had stock of eight lakh doses of Covaxin and 80,000 doses of Covishield. Not even a single dose of Corbevax is available in the State.
While the national percentage of individuals who received precautionary doses is 23 per cent, Telangana has administered it to 47.6 percent of the eligible population. It is the largest in the country followed by Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.“We hope that the Central government will deliver enough supply of third dose to Telangana in the coming days,’’ Harish Rao had said.