GUWAHATI: People are returning dejected from Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) across the state as there is an acute shortage of doses. The daily vaccination numbers have dropped drastically from the three lakh figure at the beginning of the inoculation drive on June 21 to about 30,000 now.
On Wednesday, vaccination remained suspended in around 83% of the 2,000-odd CVCs that were set up across Assam for the mega vaccination drive. Large crowds were seen at CVCs and the first day drive last month saw more than three lakh people getting the jabs. A few days later there was a lull and slowly 50% of the centres administering the vaccines were closed. By Wednesday afternoon, the number of CVCs closed down shot up to 83%.
Kalpana Sahani, who is a mother of three children and a resident of the Mathgharia area in state capital Dispur, was worried about her family’s health. She has been returning disappointed from the Forestgate area CVC since Saturday. Neither the vaccinators nor the management of the session site had an answer to her anxiety. “My husband and I have not yet received the first dose. I went around noon today but my neighbour told me that the stock for the day has finished already,” Kalpana told TOI.
Sanath, her husband, won't be able to go to work unless he is vaccinated. Sanath, who works under a contractor, drives an oil tanker to the Guwahati Refinery. “My husband had a fracture on his leg a few days ago. He is recovering now and may not be able to go to the vaccination centre,” said Kalpana.
Health department sources said on Wednesday leftover stock was used. “We are waiting for a fresh consignment. About 6,000 people were vaccinated till noon with the previous stock,” said an immunization official.
While the vaccination numbers dropped to 32,160 in the state on Tuesday, the dwindling inoculation figure has worried people in the rural areas who are anyway much behind urban beneficiaries in the inoculation drive.
