We have stock now but not sure how long it will last: Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Centre

A person is vaccinated at the HBT Trauma Care hospital, Jogeshwari on Friday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Even as many vaccination centres in Mumbai have shut due to vaccine shortage, the Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Centre in Jogeshwari continues to inoculate people.

"We have no shortage here. We had a capacity of only 100 injections (of Covishield) per day since the beginning of the vaccination drive. However, we used to give a maximum of 200 injections per day - and never exceeded this quota. Other vaccination centres were giving vaccinations at four times their quota, which could be the possible reason why they have run out of it," said Medical Superintendent, Dr Pramod Nagarkar.

Vaccination was stopped at the K J Somaiya Medical College and Research Centre on Friday. Pic/Sameer Markande

Nagarkar also explained that initially, fewer people came to get vaccinated. "Most of the people living in the suburbs were going to Cooper Hospital and some other vaccination centres, but now, they are coming here from all over the city. Initially, we used to average around 50 patients till 11 am but for the past few days, we have been getting at least 80-90 patients till 11 am," he said.

He also pointed out that they were receiving a lot inquiries regarding vaccination. He said, "We tell people that we have enough stock and tell them to come here. I don't think we will have a shortage of vaccines even in the coming days. We expect to get more stock by evening."

A 52-year-old woman who got vaccinated at the centre on Friday said, "This centre is close to my home which is why I came here. I came around 11.30 am and got it at around 1 pm. I was aware that many other vaccination centres had run out of stock but people whom I know told me that this place was still giving out the vaccine."

‘Didn't expect stock to finish'

Many other centres had a different situation. Dean of K J Somaiya Medical College and Research Centre, at Sion, Dr Varsha Dilip Phadke said, "We have run out of stock. Hopefully, the stock [of Covishield] should come in today and we will restart. We did not know that the vaccine doses would get over at some point." When asked if people had been coming to get vaccinated, she said, "People are aware of the shortage. We have been receiving many calls inquiring if the vaccine is available. We told them it is not available today. They know that they can come after a few days to get vaccinated." Speaking of the shortage, she said, "It is interrupting the vaccination drive. We are not achieving our target because of it. We don't know how long it will take to replenish stock. If it is only one or two days, maybe we can cover it."