Due To Shortage, Covid Vaccination In Madurai Has Been Halted Since Tuesday

Due to a shortage of vaccinations, the Covid vaccination effort in Madurai has been halted as of Tuesday. Dr P Kumaragurubaran, Deputy Director (in-charge) of Health Services, stated they have yet to hear of the arrival of new stock. For the first time since it began, Madurai's vaccination effort has been halted.

On June 2, the District Vaccine Store received the last batch of the vaccine, which included 15,000 Covishield doses and 2,500 Covaxin doses. According to a Health official, while Covishield doses were exhausted in two days, only Covaxin dosages were administered until Monday.

3,73,079 people have been vaccinated as of Monday. According to Dr. Kumaragurubaran, there was no formal indication on when fresh doses would be sent to the district until Monday night.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated on Monday that India would return to a centralized procurement system for COVID-19 vaccines, with free vaccines for those aged 18 to 44 as well as 25% of procurement remaining open to the private sector, by June 21, the system will be fully functioning. He also stated that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana's free ration distribution plan would be extended till Diwali in November, benefiting 80 million people.