Sudden surge in demand for Covid-19 vaccine leads to shortage in Gujarat

Since the BF-7 variant of Coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in Gujarat and the Indian government is appealing to people to take requisite precautions, there has been a sudden surge in the demand for Covid vaccines, the state government said.

Due to sudden surge in demand for vaccines, some health centres ran short of it. The supply of vaccines is said to increase soon.

Additional Director (Health), government of Gujarat, Nilam Patel, told mediapersons on Monday in Gandhinagar: "Since the Covid cases had dropped drastically, people had started taking Covid-19 lightly and were less enthusiastic in taking booster dose, so the government, too, was keeping a low stock. As on Monday, there are 35,000 vaccine bottles available with the state government."

Patel said that since the last few days, there has been a surge in the number of people taking booster dose.

"Till the first week of December, on an average 3,000 vaccinations were taking place on a daily basis but since December 15, all of a sudden people, were turning up in large numbers to take the booster dose," Patel added.

Since Friday, 10,000 persons were vaccinated daily because of which some health centres were facing a shortage of vaccines.

The Additional Director (Health) said that a fresh order for Covid-19 vaccines have been placed and he was hopeful that soon, the supply of vaccines will be restored and people will not have to return without getting the vaccine.

Rajkot District Collector, Arun Mahesh Babu took stock of the situation and preparedness to Covid-19 challenges as well as visited government hospitals, oxygen plants and Covid wards.

Later, he told the media about the vaccine stock and supply issue which he will discuss with the District Development Officer and Rajkot Municipal Commissioner, and will put up a request to increase vaccine supply for the district.

In Ahmedabad, District Education Officer Hitendra Padheria held a video conference with the school management and have instructed them to take precautionary measures like making masks mandatory for students and following Covid guidelines in schools such as keeping sanitisers and ensuring that no events or gathering are organised inside the school premises or outside.

--IANS

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