Vaccine shortage forces Kolkata Municipal Corporation to shut Covaxin-only jab centres – Times of India

KOLKATA: An acute shortage of Covaxin supply on Thursday compelled Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to shut its Covid vaccination centres (CVC) that administer the vaccine.
The stock of Covaxin was grossly inadequate and hence it was not possible for the civic body to keep its clinics that administer only Covaxin doses open, according to Atin Ghosh, member of the KMC Board of Administrators (BoA). However, a section of KMC health officials felt even a temporary closure might inflate the backlog of Covaxin second doses, which now stands at 40,000 doses.
There are 38 KMC vaccination clinics that administer only Covaxin shots. “At present, our stock of Covaxin is so poor that we can’t even spare five vials for each centre exclusively meant for administering Covaxin doses. So, after a round of discussion with the civic brass, we have decided to keep our Covaxin clinics shut for this weekend. Hopefully, we will resume vaccination from next week provided the supply of Covaxin improves,” a KMC health department official said. Besides 38 vaccination clinics, KMC has been running a Covaxin mega centre at Roxy Theatre. The mega centre will also remain shut this weekend, added a civic official.
A KMC health department official associated with the Covid vaccination process on Thursday expressed worries over the dearth of Covaxin doses. “With scanty supply hardly meeting huge demands, the pendency is now increasing every day. We don’t know what will happen if the supply doesn’t improve by this weekend,” the civic official said.

Sources in the KMC health department said the shortage of Covaxin had forced them to allot five vials to each of the 38 vaccination clinics in the past two weeks. “Even two weeks ago, the scene was not encouraging. We were facing a crisis throughout this month, which has led to a backlog of 40,000 second-dose recipients,” a KMC health department official said.
However, an improvement in the supply of Covishield doses on Thursday allowed KMC health officials to allocate 200 doses to the clinics that administer only Covishield. Over 150 KMC vaccination clinics administer Covishield doses. “With an improved supply of Covishield, we could clear a part of the backlog so far as second doses of Covishield is concerned,” said a KMC health official. According to a KMC medical officer posted in Tollygunge, 70% of the additional allocation of Covishield doses was kept reserved for the recipients of second doses.
Most private hospitals have a very low reserve of Covaxin and a few have been administering between 50 and 60 doses a day, as opposed to Covishield, which is averaging above 600. RN Tagore International Insrtitute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS), for instance, has been administering less than 50 a day. “We have a very limited quantity,” said RTIICS zonal head R Venkatesh.
Peerless Hospital administered 62 doses of Covaxin on Thursday while its Covishield tally was 385. “Covaxin supply has always been low and there’s no change,” said Peerless CEO Sudipta Mitra.