Ahead of the national-wide Tika Utsav planned on April 11, there is a severe shortage in the supply of both the vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin – in Anantapur and Kurnool districts.
Both the districts are left with stocks enough for just two days.
‘Private hospitals deactivated’
“More than 50% of the private hospitals, which were authorised to handle the vaccination programme, have been deactivated in the last four days as the stock of Covaxin ran dry, and the stock of Covishield is enough to last two days,” District Medical and Health Officer Y. Kameswara Prasad has said.
The district has so far immunised 2.50 lakh frontline workers and citizen above 45 years.
“Several private hospitals have been turning away people who are approaching them either for the first dose or the second dose of the vaccine. About 25 out of 46 private hospitals enlisted for the purpose have been deactivated,” says the DMHO.
Duration for second dose
“All those who have taken the first dose of Covishield are being advised to take the second jab only after 42 days instead of 28 days earlier. As per the advise of the ICMR, the second shot can be taken between the 42nd day and 56th day,” says Dr. Prasad.
In Anantapur district, there are 13,000 doses of vaccine available with the DMHO office, while another tranche of 15,000 doses is arriving by Friday night, he says.
On Friday, Anantapur MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy took the jab at the Government General Hospital in Anantapur, and hoped that sufficient stocks would be sent by the Central Government to meet the rising demand.
Kurnool District Immunisation Officer said they had been vaccinating between 10,000 and 15,000 persons a day since April 1, and that the district was left with just two days of supplies.
The district too is expecting fresh stocks by Friday night via Kadapa. The district has so far vaccinated 2,62,523 persons (till April 8).
District Medical and Health Officer Rama Giddaiah said that 30 out of 54 private hospitals had been deactivated.
