State on Tuesday received over 2.13 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine a day prior to the scheduled date of delivery, but most of the Government-run session sites remained non-operational on the day owing to the ongoing crisis of vaccines, health officials said.
“The 2,13,340 Covishield doses, which were supposed to reach us tomorrow (Wednesday), were delivered today (Tuesday). We are also expecting more than 30,000 Covaxin doses tomorrow,” State Immunisation Officer, Dr Ajit Prasad said.
“The fresh lot of vaccines will be distributed among the districts by tomorrow morning, and the vaccination drive is likely to regain pace on Wednesday,” he added, claiming that Jharkhand was expecting around 10 lakh more doses of vaccines this month.
Residents, however, had a tough time to book slots at session sites and get inoculated for the second consecutive day owing to the vaccine crisis on Tuesday.
As per data available on the Co-Win portal, only 263 of the 3,377 Government-run session sites opened their doors for beneficiaries on the day, while as many as 16 private hospitals offered vaccination service.
No Government-run session sites were operational in Ranchi for the second day in a row. As per Co-Win portal, only three private vaccination centres and military hospital had slots available in Ranchi on the day.
While vaccination at three private facilities — Medica Diagnostics Centre, Medica Hospital and Paras Hospital — were paid, slots at Military Hospital were only open for Army personnel.
The situation was worse in East Singhbhum, where only one private vaccination centre, Red Cross Hospital, was open on the day for paid jabs, revealed data on Co-Win platform. In Dhanbad too, only Asarfi Hospital was open for paid vaccination on the day, while no session sites were operational in Bokaro and Chatra.
Four Government-run session sites were, however, open in Deoghar district.
As per data shared by National Health Mission (NHM), the state had as many as 45,370 doses of vaccines before the vaccination process began on Tuesday.
Jharkhand, as per NHM data, has received over 82 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin from the Centre so far. The state has administered over 83.54 lakh doses, including Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which was procured separately by private hospitals.
Jharkhand has already received more than half of the 25 lakh Covishield and Covaxin doses promised by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in July.
The vaccine supply schedule for the month of August is yet to be released by the Centre, officials said.