With many vaccination centres in Chennai running out of Covaxin, people, especially those due for the second dose, have been left running around the city to identify hospitals/clinics that have stock.

C Parthasarathy, a resident of Triplicane, said he had a tough time on Friday in getting the second dosage of Covaxin. He, along with his 87-year-old father Rangachary, went to the Ice House Public Health Centre (PHC) where they had got their first dose only to be told that the vaccine was not available, and that Covishield was being administered. After running around for 90 minutes, he found Covaxin was available at Mirsahibpet PHC.

Things have only got worse since Friday.

Many people that BusinessLine spoke to said that PHCs that had run out of Covaxin directed them to the Omandurar Government General Hospital.

“We get Covaxin regularly,” said a senior doctor at Omandurar centre, when asked if there is a possibility of the centre also running out of stock.

Doses coming soon

“We are getting 1 lakh doses of Covaxin and will be sent to districts by Saturday evening,” said a government official. This, he hoped, would ease the shortage.

With just 9 lakh Covid-19 vaccines in stock, the Tamil Nadu government has urged the Centre to immediately release 20 lakh doses of Covishield and 5 lakh vials of Covaxin.

At the current pace of vaccination, these stocks will, at best, last five days.

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