PMC, PCMC shut 29 Covid vaccination sites over lack of doses

PUNE: At least 29 Covid-19 vaccination sites across Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic bodies have temporarily closed down since doses are not available.

Suryakant Devkar, chief immunization officer in Pune Municipal Corporation, told TOI, "We have no doses of Covishield or Covaxin. So, we have decided to halt vaccination across 21 sites. We will resume when we receive the doses from the state."

Devkar said that they had a few Covaxin doses with an expiry date of March 31, and even those are unavailable for the immunization drive.

The situation is no different in neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) areas. According to PCMC's medical department, they also have shut down their vaccination drive in eight sites.

Dr Laxman Gophane, assistant medical officer of PCMC, said, "We have been demanding vaccines from the state government, but so far we have received nothing, hence we have shut down the sites. The sites will be started when we receive the vaccines. Most of our beneficiaries have taken Covishield doses, hence we will need more of those."

An official from the deputy director of health services, Pune circle office, said that they have sought vaccines for Pune, Solapur, Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts. They have not received any assurances from the government. "We will inquire once again with the state immunization officer on the status of the arrival of the doses," the official added.

In Maharashtra, daily immunization crossed the 1,000 mark on March 29 and March 31after a gap of more than six weeks. On Sunday, just 121 doses were administered, while on Saturday, the number was 497.

Earlier in March, the state public health secretary Nawin Sona Natesan had said they had demanded a fresh stock of doses to the Centre in December 2022, but had not received any supply.