Vaccination comes to halt in Rajasthan; No inoculation today

Jaipur: The shortage of vaccine supply may become a major blow to the state government’s efforts to prevent the third wave of Covid-19. The vaccination drive has come to a complete halt in Rajasthan as there had been no supply of doses over the past two days. Most centres across the state were closed on Tuesday and the situation is likely to remain the same on Wednesday, medical and health department officials said. People queuing up at the vaccination centres are returning disappointed after they are told about the non-availability of doses.

The state had about 70,000 doses left on Monday. Most of these were administered on the same day. The medical and health department officials were expecting to receive a fresh batch of vaccines on Tuesday, but it didn’t happen, sources said adding that this would affect vaccination on Wednesday.

Only 77,000 people were vaccinated on July 4, while the number dropped to 34,613 on July 5. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot took to Twitter to express his disappointment over the lack of vaccination supply.

“We had 70,000 doses available. All have been administered. Vaccination drive has stopped in most districts as the state is not getting an adequate supply of doses from the centre. It is disrupting the vaccination drive frequently. I request the central government to ensure adequate supply of vaccines for Rajasthan so that the inoculation drive could continue uninterrupted,” Gehlot wrote on Twitter on Monday.

People can still get vaccinated at private hospitals in Jaipur district. Rajasthan has received nearly 2.537 crore doses so far. Of them, 2.14 crore people have received their first dose, while 42.81 lakh have been fully vaccinated.