Fresh stock of vaccine will arrive in mid-April in Jharkhand

stock of Covaxin will arrive in the province in the second week of April

Jharkhand, which has launched the second round of a special Covid-19 vaccine campaign at panchayat, will soon face a shortage of vaccines if no new load arrives in the province in a few days, sources in the state health department said. According to available information, the state was left with 23,760 doses of Covaxin for Barat Biotech, and 327,780 doses of Covidshield Serum Institute of India, Pune. However, the state director of the National Health Mission (NHM) Ravishankar Shukla has denied the stock shortage, while confirming the amount of remaining stock.

“There is no shortage of vaccines right now. We have been informed that the load of Covaxin will arrive in the province in the second week of this month. We still have around 25,000 pieces for this vaccine. Districts have been ordered not to use Covaxin in the first dose. It will only be given to those who have already taken its first dose,” he said.

The state aims to vaccinate more than one lakh beneficiaries daily under a special immunization program launched on April 4. Contrary to the target of 114,800 beneficiaries set for the first day, as many as 80,184 were given the first dose, accounting for 70% of the achievement of the objectives. Considering the current rate of vaccination, the state has a limited stock of current vaccines. To date it has received a total of 2,074,760 doses of Covishield, as well as 237,760 doses of Covaxin.