Gurugram: Thousands of people who wanted to get vaccinated in Gurugram on Sunday were left disappointed as all government Covid vaccination centres in the district were shut for lack of stocks.
With the shortage of vaccines expected to last for some more days at least, senior officials of the health department here have mentioned that the rate of vaccination drive will be slow for the next two to three days. However, they maintained that there will be a special vaccination drive for those who are due to get their second dose.
Reports of vaccine shortage have emerged at a time when the Gurugram administration has also achieved a unique feat in its vaccination drive. On Saturday, with 50 doses of Sputnik-V administered free of cost in certain government centres, Gurugram became the first urban district in the country where Sputnik-V wa being given at government centres. On Sunday however, even the Sputnik-V vaccine was not given.
Not only government centres but vaccines administered in private hospitals also remained quite low. As compared to 55 private centres where vaccines are provided in Gurugram, only 29 centres administered vaccines on Sunday. It is important to note that despite paid vaccination, the largest number of vaccines are still administered at government centres.
In a district where on an average over 15,000 vaccines were administered daily, the shortage of vaccines on Sunday resulted in only 4,462 people getting inoculated. In the week gone by, only 43,443 people received their first dose while 34,026 got their second shots. Not only in Gurugram but even in Haryana there has been a shortage of COVID vaccine for a few days. On Sunday 27,000 doses of COVID vaccines were administered in Haryana.
"Owing to shortage of vaccines there was no drive that was conducted in government centres on Sunday. This problem will persist for a few more days till the stocks get replenished. We have reserved certain stocks for people who are expected to get their second dose," said Dr MP Singh, deputy Chief Medical officer, Gurugram.
According to official data, there have been 15.62 lakh people in Gurugram so far that have received at least one dose of vaccine. Going by the 2011 census where Gurugram's population was 17 lakhs, nearly 89 percent people have received at least one dose of vaccines.However, with only 2.93 lakh of these having received both the doses, Gurugram administration is also facing a huge challenge to get many people in the district fully vaccinated.