Limited vax availability worries public waiting for second dose

A total of 6.5 lakh doses of Covaxin has been procured by Tamil Nadu, of which 5.13 lakh doses have been administered, including 71,724 doses to frontline workers, 51,556 healthcare workers, 2,01,884 people above the age of 45 years and 1,88,717 elderly people. 

After Covaxin was removed from the trial mode, the vaccination has picked up, especially among those above the age of 45 years, as it constitutes of inactivated virus. However, many people had to struggle to find private vaccination sites where Covaxin is administered. 

“Many of the healthcare workers, frontline workers and people above the age of 45 years, who have been vaccinated in past few weeks, are to receive their second dose in the coming days. However, the designated vaccination sites have only limited supply of the vaccine,” said Dr G R Ravindranath, secretary, Doctors’ Association for Social Equality. 

Many others who are willing to get vaccinated now are concerned if the second dose will be available in the future. 

“It took me about a week to find a private vaccination site for Covaxin administration. However, if the availability is so limited, I am not sure how long I will have to wait for the second dose,” said Vinod Kumar, a resident of Mogappair. 

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech’s recent announcement of increasing the overall production of Covaxin has given hopes of better availability of the vaccine in the coming days. 

When contacted, the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr TS Selvavinayagam said procurement of both vaccines continues as per the demand. The request on the requirements of vaccines is periodically being sent to the Centre,” he said.