Covaxin stocks running dry in Jharkhand after authorities distributed over 90,000 doses of the Bharat Biotech-made vaccine among all 24 districts of the state on Thursday.

As per data National Health Mission (NHM), the state vaccine store in Ranchi was out of doses of Covaxin on Wednesday and districts were left with negligible stock to continue the immunisation programme.

Bharat Biotech's vaccine is now more sought-after in the state because of a shorter, 28-day gap between two doses as opposed to the 84-day interval mandated for the Serum Institute of India's Covishiled vaccine.

Ranchi, which has received the highest share of vaccines in Jharkhand so far, had only 100 Covaxin doses in stock before session sites opened their doors on Wednesday. The count of this vaccine available with the district had almost come down to zero by Thursday morning, sources involved in the immunisation drive said.

As per Co-Win portal, Covaxin was available only at Clinic Apollo in Ranchi for Rs 1,410, while none of the government-run session sites made slots available for this vaccine on Thursday. In East Singhbhum and Dhanbad, only paid doses of Covaxin were available.

Some beneficiaries of Covaxin, who took the first jab a month ago, had a tough time trying to book a slot for their second dose on Thursday, sources said. Ranchi resident Pranay Ranjan said that the government-run session sites were not providing Covaxin jabs to those who did not have a slot booked through the Co-Win portal. However, no free slots were available for Covaxin on the government portal, he added.

“I have also tried booking slots for Covaxin through third party websites, but there were no slots available at government-run session sites. Maybe we will get the slots at government vaccination centres once the state has more vaccines available,” said Ranjan.

Thursday's fresh allotments of Covaxin are likely to bring some relief, but its limited availability remains a problem. Ranchi got the highest share of 7,000 doses from the fresh stocks on Thursday, as per health department data. Among other districts, East Singhbhum, Hazaribagh and Palamau received 5,500 doses, while Dhanbad, Dumka and Godda were provided 4,250 doses each. Most of the remaining districts got less than 4,000 doses each.

“We are receiving fewer doses of Covaxin from the Centre compared to Covishield, but the demand for the former is much higher due to the smaller gap between the two doses,” said a source from NHM, adding that the health department has asked all districts to prioritise vaccination of those due for their second dose over first-time recipients.

As per NHM figures, districts in Jharkhand had 1,02,070 doses of Covaxin before session sites opened on Wednesday, but there was no stock available in the state vaccine store to supply to the districts in case they ran out of this vaccine. On the other hand, the state vaccine store had over 2.74 lakh Covishield doses in stock, while the districts were left with more than 3 lakh Covishiled doses on Thursday.