Civic body requested state govt to replenish stock last week but to no avail
The Shastri Nagar public health centre at Vishnu Nagar, Dombivli in Thane wears an empty look due to the lack of Covid vaccines. Pics/Satej Shinde
The Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s stock of COVID vaccines has been exhausted since Monday. Though the civic body requested the state government to replenish its supply of vaccines last week, the former is yet to receive them. About 71 per cent of those who are eligible for the jab in the area under the civic body’s jurisdiction have received both doses.
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“We don’t have any vaccines. Whenever we receive our supply, we will start vaccinating citizens again,” said Dr Ashwini Patil, medical health officer of the KDMC. Another official claimed, “We tried to get vaccines from neighbouring cities. But no one has sufficient stock. We don’t have a choice but to wait.”
As per KDMC records, 52.96 per cent of children between 12 and 14 years and 61.95 per cent of those from 15 to 18 years took the first jab. And 75.41 per cent of the above-18 population has received both doses. Officials claim most Kalyan Dombivli residents work in Mumbai or Navi Mumbai. There is a chance they got vaccinated there.
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According to the records, the KDMC had set a target of immunising 59,326 children in the 12 to 14 age group. But only 31,417 children got the first jab and out of this group, 19,006 took the second one. The civic body also sought to immunise 92,602 children in the 15 to 18 age group although only 57,369 got the first vaccine and out of these, 43,161 got the second shot. Also, 13,97,212 citizens above 18 were expected to be vaccinated. Out of them, 10,53,589 got the first jab while 10,39,057 got the second one. Overall, 11,01,218 of the 15,49,141 citizens eligible for the vaccine received both shots.