Jharkhand received over 2 lakh Covishield doses on Tuesday, day prior to the scheduled date of delivery to tide over the ongoing vaccine crisis, health officials said.

However, most of the government-run session sites remained non-operational across Jharkhand, including capital Ranchi, where about 500 doses were administered by private hospitals alone until 4.30pm, as per Co-Win portal.

“We received 2,13,340 Covishield doses today (Tuesday) and we are expecting over 31,000 Covaxin doses tomorrow (Wednesday). The 2.13 lakh Covishield doses were scheduled for delivery on July 21, but we got it a day prior to the scheduled date to overcome the current crisis,” Jharkhand’s immunisation officer, Dr. Ajit Prasad said.

The fresh lot of vaccines would be distributed among districts by the end of Tuesday, and the vaccination drive is likely to regain some pace from Wednesday onwards, said Dr. Prasad, adding that Jharkhand was expecting at least 10 lakh more doses of vaccines this month.

Jharkhand residents, however, had a tough time booking slots at session sites and get jabs on Tuesday, the second day in a row owing to the vaccine crisis. As per data available on the Co-Win portal, only 263 of the 3377 government-run session sites opened their doors for beneficiaries, while as many as 16 private hospitals offered vaccinations.

No government-run session sites were operational in Ranchi for the second day in a row. As per Co-Win portal, only three private vaccination centres and military hospital had slots available in Ranchi. While the vaccination at Medica Diagnostics Centre, Medica Hospital and Paras Hospital were paid, vaccination at Military Hospital was only open for army personnel.

The situation was worse in East Singhbhum, where only one private vaccination centre, Red Cross Hospital, was open on Tuesday for paid jabs. In Dhanbad too, only Asarfi Hospital was open for paid vaccination on the day, while no session sites were operational in Bokaro and Chatra. Four government-run session sites were, however, open in Deoghar district.

As per data shared by National Health Mission (NHM), the state had as many as 45,370 doses of vaccines before the vaccination process began on Tuesday. Jharkhand, as per NHM data, has received over 82 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin from the Centre so far. The state has administered over 83.54 lakh doses, including Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which was procured separately by private hospitals.