Alleged Shortage of Covid shield vaccine in Maharashtra

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) finds itself in a dilemma, with 50,000 doses of Covaxin.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) found itself in a confusing situation. At least 1.70 lakh beneficiaries have already received Covidshield in Pune city, including first-timers and health care providers, must now take Covishield as their second responsibility. Managers do not have enough doses for Covidshield to ensure that those who receive their first dose receive their second dose of the same vaccine.

A message sent by the PMC's health office to hospitals “From now on we will only be able to get Covaxin and not Covidshield. Covidshield will be offered by the Indian government for a second dose in the next few days. We urge everyone to pay GOI and take Covaxin and start vaccinating new beneficiaries. Caution needs to be exercised as those with a Covidshield stock ratio should only use a second volume. Give Covaxin in the first dose. Covishield pre-registered software will only print Covidshield certificates. So, you should first take out Covishield stock, then cancel the Covidshield site, register a new Covaxin site, and start offering Covaxin. Beneficiaries who come in the second round will be directed to the facilities that select the area that will offer Covidshield, which will be the best government institutions to avoid confusion.”

It is highly recommended by the health department that under no circumstances where any person can receive two different doses for two different doses. Dr. Ashish Bharati, head of health at PMC, said, “It is true that we only have 50,000 Covaxin, in contrast to the one lakh dose of Covidshield, which we were expecting. We do not have Covidshield stock at the moment so we have asked hospitals to keep all the doses we are waiting for to be used for a second dose only. We were completely unaware of the situation and at the moment, we know we only have Covaxin.”

“On Monday, we asked hospitals to use Covidshield for a second dose and they should now register for Covaxin. Hospitals will have to replace the second Covaxin and restart the process. As of Sunday evening, seven private hospitals have taken doses of Covaxin from us. We have vaccinated about 1.50 lakh beneficiaries to be awarded to Covidshield. We do not have Covidshield stock yet and this could lead to some confusion,” added Dr. Bharati.

As of now, only Aundh Regional Hospital has managed Covaxin. Covaxin is a traditional vaccine developed in collaboration with NIV and Barat Biotech, while Covidshield was developed by Oxford University and is mass-produced by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).

Dr. H K Sale, executive director of Noble Hospital, Covid-19 immunization centre, said, “This will definitely lead to confusion and inconvenience in vaccination centres. From now on, we do not have Covaxin doses either. We need to re-apply Covaxin even though we will still receive 700 doses of Covidsheild from the government we have already paid for. However, now we have to build a new Covaxin site and from Monday we will be able to vaccinate only a few health workers. We will not be able to give Covidshield as we should keep it for those who have already received the first dose of the vaccine.”