The district’s COVID-19 inoculation drive took a severe hit after it exhausted its vaccine reserves on Monday. While the acute shortage has prompted health authorities to call off the ongoing vaccination drive in several places, there is no word on when the next batch would arrive.
The special vaccination drive that has been under way at the Jimmy George indoor stadium since March 2 will be suspended on Tuesday. The facility enabled numerous people to avail the doses instantly after registering at the venue without the need for online bookings. Having facilitated vaccination for a bulk of the COVID-19 vaccine recipients, the stadium has witnessed great rush during the last few days.
The situation was no different on Monday when a serpentine queue formed outside the venue as early as 8 a.m., two hours prior to the drive. While many had come for the vaccine booster (second dose), the increased demand seen lately could also have been spurred by the fear of the depleting vaccine stock amid the sharp surge in COVID-19 cases, officials point out. A total of 1,641 people, including 448 senior citizens, were administered the vaccine at the facility. As many as 1,384 of the beneficiaries received their second doses.
Several hundred people, who waited in the queue for long hours, had to leave empty-handed on being informed that the stock had run out. Some elderly citizens cried foul of the crowd management and suggested a token system commensurate with the vaccine stock available.
In all, 20,247 vaccine doses were administered in Thiruvananthapuram district on the day. These included 17,010 Covishield and 3,237 Covaxin doses.
All of the 1,500 vaccine doses that remained in the district vaccine store is set to be utilised for vaccination camps being organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. While the General Hospital is unlikely to provide any more doses, other major hospitals including Government Medical College Hospital could have stocks as low as 200 doses. Most private hospitals are also known to be running low on vaccine reserves with many being unable to honour the online bookings.
