Only 10,000 vaccine doses left in Jalandhar, 18+ drive may take a hit

Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, April 29

With merely 10,000 vaccine left in stock, health staff said those above 18 years of age will be vaccinated only if additional vaccination stocks arrive. The health staff also said confusion prevailed regarding the next phase of the Covid drive as they did not know when the stocks would arrive again.

Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu had also said today that the 18-plus vaccination drive in the state may get delayed as Punjab did not have adequate doses.

District Immunisation Officer Dr Rakesh Chopra said, “Currently, we don’t have vaccine for the 18-plus immunisation drive. We have stock only until tomorrow. There are 10,000 doses available which will be used in a single day given the rate of vaccination. On an average, 10,000 to 11,000 people are getting vaccinated every day. However, we will be able to vaccinate 18-plus people only if more vaccines arrive by May 1.”

MP Santokh Chaudhary, while urging those above 18 years of age to get vaccinated in the next phase of the Covid vaccine on May 1, had said the vaccination was the only solution to tide over this current health crisis prevailing out of the second wave of virus. Notably, in all over 3 lakh 80,000 people have been vaccinated in Jalandhar until now.

MP Santokh Chaudhary said, “We were not aware of the shortage of the vaccines earlier. We got to know about it later. The state government has been requesting to replenish the stock but people can only get vaccinated when the stock arrives. As per the recent statement of the Health Minister, vaccines will be administered if there are in stock. So, the drive depends on the stock in the state.”

While reviewing the administration’s preparedness to tackle the second wave of Covid-19 in the district, the MP, accompanied by Mayor Jagdish Raj Raja, MLAs Rajinder Beri, Avtar Singh Bawa Henry, Surinder Chaudhry, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori, SSP Dr Sandeep Garg, and DCP Gurmeet Singh took stock of various steps being taken to win this war against the virus.

While Member of Parliament Chaudhary Santokh Singh on Thursday urged all people above 18 years of age to register for the mega vaccination drive being rolled out from May 1, the health staff is the district said they were left with stock only for a day.

The MP made comments while chairing a district-level review meeting at the district administrative complex, Jalandhar. However, hours later, he retracted his statement after statewide reports that the 18-plus vaccine drive might get delayed.