51% Reveal That Someone They Know Was Unable To Get Covid Vaccine Due To Shortage In April: Survey

51% respondents or someone in their social network could not find a Covid-19 vaccine dose this month when they went for their vaccination. Percentage of citizens who were unable to find a vaccine dose at the vaccination center goes up by 3 times in 3 weeks

 New Delhi: Since the inception of India's vaccination drive, more than 15 crore vaccine doses have been administered to the eligible beneficiaries. However, amid the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic which is infecting over 3,55,000 people on a daily basis, reports of vaccine shortages at inoculation centers are rife.

Political leaders began to claim about vaccine shortage in their respective states even before the announcement of phase 3 immunisation starting on May 1 wherein citizens of all ages above 18 years old are made eligible for taking the jab.

Citizens from many states shared their feedback on the LocalCircles survey as they revealed that their family or friends had gone to the hospital for taking the Covid vaccine but found it to be stocked out.

LocalCircles’ survey released on April 11 had indicated that 18 percent of citizens or someone in their social network could not find a vaccine dose when they went for inoculation in the first 10 days of April.

While Coronavirus cases surged by almost 150 percent from 145,000 in the first week of April 2021 to more than 355,000 this week, LocalCircles conducted another survey to find out if people, who went to the vaccination centers, are still experiencing the shortage. More than 8,000 responses were registered from citizens located in 255 districts of the country.

51 Percent Of Respondents Report That Someone In Their Social Network Was Unable To Find Vaccine Dose In April

The survey sought to know from respondents if they or anyone in their social network faced such a scenario this month (April) that they went to get vaccinated and the center was out of stock. In response, 15 percent said “happened with 4 or more individuals in my social network”, 21 percent responded, “happened with 2-3 individuals in my social network”, and 15 percent said, “happened with 1 individual in my social network”.

There were only 37 percent saying “did not happen with anyone”, while 12 percent couldn’t say.

The aggregate responses indicate that 51 percent of citizens had someone in their social network who could not get a vaccine dose when they went for vaccination in April. This question in the survey received 8,270 responses and respondents were asked to find out from their family, friends if they did not have a direct experience.

Percentage Of Citizens Unable To Find Vaccine Goes Up By 3 Times In 3 Weeks

The last LocalCircles survey on vaccine shortage which released on April 11, 2021, indicated that only 18 percent of citizens were unable to find a vaccine dose at the vaccine center.

However, in the last 3 weeks, the percentage of citizens reporting shortage at vaccination centers goes up by 3 times. 51 percent of citizens or their family and friends faced the issue.

In early April, 77 percent of citizens in the survey expressed interest in taking the vaccine. The number stood at 38 percent when India started its vaccination drive which reveals a positive development in terms of a major decline in vaccine hesitancy in the 3 month period. 

As India is set to begin its Phase 3 inoculation drive, it is critical to fix this vaccine shortage and augment vaccination along with testing, tracing, treating and containment.

Prior vaccination, as per global data and expert advice, is believed to reduce the chances of Covid-infected persons going to the ICU and their chances of dying are said to be near zero. Hence as India battles its second and more severe Coronavirus wave, it is all the more important that sufficient vaccine stock is available for a large population to be inoculated.