Covid vaccination centres in the city struggled to manage long queues as people flocked for jabs fearing doses would get scarcer after May 1.
Most private hospitals administered only second doses on Thursday and asked those who had turned up for their first jab to wait till all second-dose recipients were inoculated. In many places, people who had their second doses scheduled for the first week of May had queued up on Thursday.
The hospitals received many calls from people in the 18-44 age group who wanted to know whether they could book vaccination slots. They were asked to enquire after May 5.
People aged between 18 and 44 will become eligible for Covid shots from May 5 in Bengal and May 1 in the rest of the country.
“There was a huge rush at our hospital today. All 554 doses that were administered during the day were second jabs. The first-dose recipients who had called up were asked to call again in May,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive of Peerless Hospital.
Fortis Hospital, Anandapur, gave first doses only after all second-dose recipients who had turned up were vaccinated.
“The first-dose recipients who came in the morning were told to come back in the afternoon. We made it clear that they would be vaccinated only if doses were left after all second-dose recipients were vaccinated,” said Arafat Faisal, the head of medical services at Fortis, Anandapur.
Long queues were also seen outside the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) clinics that are functioning as Covid vaccination centres.
“The current surge in Covid cases has made people keen to get vaccinated. A lot of people are queuing up to take their first doses. But we are trying to give priority to those who are coming for the second dose,” a CMC official said.
A sense of uncertainty has gripped those who are scheduled to get their second doses in the first week of May.
AMRI Hospitals have sent text messages to all who have their second doses scheduled at their hospital in May. “We have asked them to wait for a few days. Since we are not sure ourselves about the supply, we are requesting them to wait for a few days for a clearer picture to emerge,” said Rupak Barua, the group CEO of AMRI Hospitals.
The Centre has announced that all private healthcare facilities have to directly procure vaccines from the manufacturers from May. Private hospitals in Bengal, however, have requested the state health department to continue with the current practice, as part of which the state procures doses and distributes them to the inoculation centres.
The state government has written to the Centre to know whether it can procure doses for private hospitals post-May 1.
“Private hospitals cannot procure doses from the manufactures every day in small quantities. And the hospitals do not have cold storage facilities to store a large number of doses. The state government should procure the doses in bulk and distribute them in small quantities to the vaccination centres daily according to the need. That is the current practice,” an official of a private hospital said.
In the absence of clarity on how private hospitals will procure doses from May, many people are queuing up now in hope that they will get their jabs before any crisis erupts. “We hope some clarity will emerge in a couple of days,” said an official of a private hospital.
