The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has decided to open more Covid vaccination centres across the city though the uncertainty over a steady supply of vaccine doses is making the civic officials sceptic about the implementation.

As the CMC is already running Covid vaccination centres from 140 of its 144 ward health clinics, the new ones would be set up in community halls or in the civic body run schools.

“We have decided to open about 40 more vaccination centres across the city,” said a CMC official.

Vaccination for anyone above 18 years will begin in the state from May 5, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday.

The new centres would help the CMC to distribute the pressure in a more equitable manner.

The officials, however, were sceptical whether they would receive adequate number of doses of the vaccines even after opening the new centres. “There is a supply issue already. Increasing the number of Covid vaccination centres will become a futile affair if the supply does not increase,” said an official.

A similar worry also dogged officials of private hospitals. They were also worried about other resources. “We have space in our hospital to increase the number of vaccinate sites, but we need more vaccine supply. Also with a pressure to increase Covid beds, increasing more vaccination sites could also prove to be challenging as a new site would require nurses, a doctor and other vaccination staff. From where do we get so many trained personnel,” said Pradip Tondon, the chief executive officer of Belle Vue Clinic.

Metro reported on Thursday how people had queued up outside a CMC run health clinic in Kasba since 4am or even earlier for the jab.

A CMC official had said the officials in the civic body’s clinic in Kasba were not sure about how many vaccines they would get in a day, a reason why they were unable to give exact date and time to the recipients. In the absence of a confirmation about the supply, the officials asked people to stand in the queue and if vaccine doses did not get consumed till their turn came, they would get the jab.