Derailed drive

Vaccine hesitancy and a lenient administration led to a high percentage of vaccine wastage in Tamil Nadu

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

MANIKANDAN NARAYANAN, 62, took his first dose of Covaxin on March 18, at a private hospital in Kodambakkam, Chennai. After 28 days, he went for the second dose, but the hospital told him that the vaccine is “not available”. In the subsequent days, he tried again, but the response remained the same.

Finally, acting on a friend’s advice, he went to a government vaccination centre on April 26 and got his second dose, after waiting in a long queue. “I was told that Covaxin is in short supply,” he said. So, when newspapers reported the vaccine wastage in Tamil Nadu, Narayanan was shocked.