No jabs likely at private hospitals from May in Kolkata

Even as Bengal's Covid positivity rate has started to rise, most private hospitals in Kolkata have either run out of usable vaccines or will run out of stock by the end of April. While many have discontinued vaccinations in recent months, none have offered vaccinations since May. Residual stocks lying unused in some other hospitals will expire in a month.

A section of experts believe that an upgraded Covid vaccine is now necessary to combat existing strains that have led to an increase in various parts of the world, including India. Vaccination demand was low from October to November 2022, and most hospitals were burdened with huge stocks that moved slowly.

At Peerless Hospital, which closed its counters on March 3, all vaccines had expired. "As there is no demand, we have not requested fresh stock. In case there is a revival in demand due to rising Covid numbers, we will review the situation." But the manufacturers are no longer offering fresh stock,” said Peerless Hospital CEO Sudipta Mitra.

AMRI hospitals, which at the peak of the pandemic vaccinated more than 500 recipients a day, will also have no vaccines from May. As one of the few, she still gets around 15-20 vaccinations a week. "We have 5,000 doses of Covishield that will expire at the end of April. In March, our entire remaining supply of 25,000 doses of Covaxin expired. We have asked the manufacturer to take them back for disposal, but they will not be replaced with fresh vaccines. So, from May, there will be no vaccinations, ” said AMRI CEO Rupak Barua.

Woodlands Hospital still has "adequate stocks" of Covishield, which will expire in a week. But she hasn't given any vaccine for two months. In fact, the 50 nasal vaccines - iNCOVACC - that she procured in February are lying unused as the government has yet to set guidelines for their use. "We had our last vaccination on February 4," Woodlands Hospital director Rupali Basu said.

Over the past two days, there have been several inquiries about the availability of vaccines at RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS). "But we have exhausted our stock and we have no vaccines or any plans to buy," said RTIICS chief R Venkatesh.

The Covid vaccines need to be upgraded from the existing forms of Covishield and Covaxin, which were designed to fight the alpha and beta strains of Covid which are no longer in circulation, CMRI Hospital Director of Pulmonology Raja Dhar said.

"We need to have vaccines against Omicron and its subvariants for at least three more years. Since the infections are mild, there is a lack of urgency to design an upgraded vaccine," Dhar said.