After 1.8 lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccination were administered in two days, the vaccinations in Belagavi fell to 27,000 on Wednesday.
People came face-to-face with ‘No stock’ boards in most of the 500 vaccination points in the district. Those who had registered on the Co-Win portal were also disappointed as clinics and hospitals reported scarcity of the vaccine.
Several complained on social media, tagging Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Health Minister K. Sudhakar.
One person, Manoj Kumar, complained that his brother got a false message of vaccination despite not getting one. He could not get the shot despite booking it at the Vantmuri primary health centre.
“He had booked online, but when he went to the centre, he was told there was no vaccination today. But there was a notice that those who booked an online slot would get vaccination that day only. Later he got a message that he had been successfully vaccinated. This (is) totally (a) vaccination scam they are doing,” he alleged.
Another person, P.R. Mirajkar, accused politicians of diverting vaccines away from PHCs to their vaccine mela centres. “I don’t know how politicians are getting vaccines when government hospitals are not getting them,” he said.
It was the same story everywhere. Supreet Bhandari said that he had gone to a PHC twice and was told that there were no vaccines. Vijay Patil said that a nurse and ASHAs at a PHC asked him to come back on Saturday as they did not have vaccine.
Another person, Vinayak Desai, suspected there was something amiss in the vaccination drive and urged Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath and Govind Karjol, district in-charge Minister, to take action against politicians, who may have caused the confusion.
Another person, Shirin, said she had gone to a PHC in Srinagar four times in a day, but had to return empty-handed. Mr. Hiremath said the district had exhausted its stock of vaccines and said fresh stocks were expected on Thursday. “We will make sure that we will reach the target of vaccinations in the given time schedule,” he said.
