Officials from the Health Department in Tiruppur district said on Tuesday that the district has exhausted its COVID-19 vaccine stock a day after administering over 10,000 doses to beneficiaries.
On Monday, Tiruppur district administered 10,720 Covishield and Covaxin doses, including 10,219 first doses and 501 second doses. This was the highest in the State as per the vaccine coverage report on Monday, the officials said.
Only about 1,000 doses were available in the vaccination centres in the district on Tuesday morning, which were exhausted within a few hours. With the vaccination drive being halted temporarily, the district administration has not received communication from the State government regarding supply of additional vaccine doses as of Tuesday, according to the officials.
Around 2.26 lakh beneficiaries in Tiruppur district have been administered at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 77 government-run vaccination centres, including primary health centres and government hospitals were conducting the vaccination drive in the district.
The lack of sufficient vaccination stock affected vaccination drive at several centres in Salem on Tuesday and public had to be turned away due to short supply of stock. With the launch of vaccination for 18-44 year category, long queues were noticed at vaccination centres and at several places separate vaccination centres had to set up for vaccinating beneficiaries in the age group to prevent crowding.
Until Monday, 3.15 lakh persons have taken first dose of Covishield and 50,462 persons have taken first dose of Covaxin here, health officials said.
According to officials, 1,00,977 persons have received second dose of Covishield and 20,273 persons have received Covaxin second dose. Cumulatively, 4.87 lakh persons have received vaccine doses in the district. As on Monday, there was stock of 4,450 doses of Covaxin and 7,330 doses of Covishield. Vaccination was conducted with available stock at a majority of the centres and long queues were noticed at centres and certain centres had to be closed. With people keen on getting vaccinated, less than 2,800 doses are available for vaccinating those in the 18-44 age group in Erode district as on Tuesday.
Sources in the Health Department told The Hindu that a total of 2,16,206 people comprising 1,77,266 above 45 years and 38,940 persons in 18-44 age group were vaccinated as of Monday. While the stock available for those above 45 years was 2,700 doses, for 18-44 age group it was just 30.
Of the 2,700 doses, 660 were available at the Government Erode Medical College Hospital, Perundurai, 1,990 at the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and 50 doses at the district vaccine store. As many as 30 doses for 18-44 age group are kept at the district vaccine store while no vaccine stock is available at government hospitals or PHCs.
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