The Centre has assured Jharkhand that it would provide 10 lakh doses of the Covid vaccine by April 9, until which time the state would have to manage with the less than 3 lakh doses available in its stock, the communication coming at a time when several districts have stopped administering the first dose to eligible recipients fearing a shortfall later.

Late on Tuesday night, the state government stated that in response to its demand for more vaccine doses, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had promised to provide 20 lakh doses to Jharkhand, half of which would reach the state by April 9.

“We have requested the Centre to provide us more vaccines as our state, like many other states in India, is dealing with the second wave of Covid-19, and timely vaccination was an important part of combating this menace,” said Health Minister Banna Gupta.

As per records with the National Health Mission (NHM), the state has been provided about 21 lakh doses of vaccine so far, and is left with only around 2.8 lakh doses in stock. Due to the shortage of Covaxin in some parts of the state, doses were administered only to those beneficiaries who were registered for the second jab on Tuesday, sources said.

The state also administered vaccine jabs to fewer residents on Tuesday compared to Monday. Over 80,000 beneficiaries were administered the first dose of the vaccine in Jharkhand on Sunday and Monday, but the count of those administered the first jab dropped to 23,078 on Tuesday. The second dose was administered to only 3,998 beneficiaries, hardly 2 per cent of the total residents registered for the dose on the day.

A senior health official admitted there was a shortage of vaccine in some parts of the state, but the shortage, he said, would not impact the immunisation programme as the state would receive more doses of vaccine within the next 72 hours.

East Singhbhum civil surgeon A.K. Lal said that there was a supply disruption in government health hubs, claiming that some health centres were borrowing vaccines from neighbouring districts to meet the demands.

Ranchi civil surgeon Dr V.B. Prasad, however, denied reports of vaccine shortage in the district. He said that many beneficiaries registered for the second dose were asked to come after 15 days as the protocol has changed and now beneficiaries are supposed to get the second jab at least 6 weeks after the first.

“People could not understand the reason why they were asked to come after 15 days, and thought that there was a vaccine crisis,” said Pathak.

As per government records, Jharkhand has so far administered the first dose of the vaccine to as many as 17,25,891 residents, including nearly 13 lakh people above the age of 45 years. As many as 2,74,153 of these beneficiaries have also received the second jab, figures with the NHM reveal.