Severe shortage of vaccines, unable to conduct vaccination drive: BBMP

The city of Bengaluru in the current situation is facing extreme shortage of vaccines which in a way is hindering the vaccination drive conducted for the residents to tackle the pandemic of the deadly virus, admitted a BBMP official.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta revealed that Bengaluru Urban alone is given 40,000 to 50,000 vaccines on a daily basis. He said, “Unfortunately, when distributed to the 198 wards in the city, this translates to roughly 200 doses per ward, which is not enough.”

The crisis comes out to be so severe that the authorities are unable to meet the requirements for the available vaccine doses. There is a massive demand for vaccines anticipated amid and after the Covid-19 second wave led surge in the cases with the way people are lining up at the vaccination centres, according to Dr S Sacchidanand, Vice chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

Gupta iterated that a count of nearly 400 to 500 dosages are needed for every ward to make up with the rising demand for vaccination. The vaccination drive for the age group from 18-44 is kept on a halt and the shortage in the vaccines has limited the inoculation for the pre-registered beneficiaries at a handful of government centres based in the city on Monday. Gupta stated, “There is a serious dearth of supplies and the Palike cannot complete its objectives unless there are adequate and steady supplies of doses.”

As a result of which, BBMP is prioritizing the vaccination of the second dose to those above 45 years, Gupta added.

Dr Arundhati Chandrashekhar, director of National Health Mission admitted that the shortage of the vaccine doses is a problem, however, the people from the 18-44 age group who have pre-registered were administered the vaccine with the 6.5 lakh Covishield doses procured from the manufacturer. She said, “Unless vaccine production ramps up, the supply problem will be there.”

Based on the government data, 1,785 people in the pre-registered 18 to 44 age group have been inoculated according to the BBMP limits and protocols.

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