As many as 1.47 lakh doses of Covishield will reach Belagavi on Wednesday. The stock will be re-distributed to eight districts in North Karnataka from Belagavi.
State Deputy Director (Immunisation) Rajani Nageshrao, who is monitoring the entire process, told The Hindu that the allocation to the districts is being worked out in such a way that the present stock of 7.95 lakh doses is enough to vaccinate a set of healthcare workers in two doses.
“This is to ensure that those who get the first dose also get the second dose after 28 days with the existing stock,” she said.
Stating that the Centre is working out the allocations, she said: “The Centre is taking into consideration 50% of the 6.3 lakh healthcare workers who had registered till January 8 and working out the allocations for districts. This is to ensure that even if there is some wastage, the existing stock is enough for two doses of the shortlisted 50% registered healthcare workers till January 8.” Sources said this was because it was still not clear when the next stocks would arrive. “Although the State has been told that we will get a total of 13.92 lakh doses, we do not know when the remaining stocks will arrive. In such a scenario, if the entire stock is used only for the first dose there can be uncertainty about the second dose,” sources said.
“As the vaccination is a two-dose process in a gap of 28 days, the entire exercise can go waste if the second dose is not given on time,” sources said.
