The availability of the two vaccines for COVID-19 in the district has dwindled, and stock is available only for sessions on Friday.
While additional stock was initially expected to arrive on Thursday, no fresh supply was provided, and there is no clarity yet on when more doses can be expected, said Dr. M.G. Sivadas, Reproductive and Child Health Officer and nodal officer for immunisation. The district just has around 30,000 doses available for the vaccination drive on Friday, he said.
On Thursday, the target was to administer around 31,000 doses, and a total of 171 vaccination sites were operational on the day, including mass vaccination centres, Dr. Sivadas said. While some private hospitals might not have been able to conduct sessions on Thursday, the vaccination sites at government facilities were all functioning, he added.
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District Collector S. Suhas said in an online briefing that the district had sufficient stock of the vaccine for Thursday and Friday, and fresh supply is expected soon.
Some private hospitals in the district were not able to conduct vaccination sessions on Thursday owing to a shortage of doses, said Dr. Junaid Rahman, former president of the IMA Kochi chapter. “We were informed that additional stock might be made available on Friday, though there is no clarity yet,” he said.
Regular sessions were held on Monday and Tuesday, and only limited doses were administered on Wednesday on account of Vishu. Only a few centres were operational on Wednesday.
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Going by the Health Department’s vaccination bulletin, 6,40,524 doses of vaccine have been administered so far in the district. A total of 4,31,959 people between the age of 45 and 60 have taken the first dose of the vaccine so far.