NEW DELHI: Hospitals in the center of some of India’s hot spots are running out of vaccines as infections have spread, causing a rush to inoculate.
Hospitals in Mumbai and elsewhere are facing a growing number of people who want shots and have to divert them. Some people go from hospital to hospital trying to get vaccinated. Some have started protests.
India has become the epicenter of the global pandemic as the number of new cases a day has risen to more than 120,000 this week from less than 20,000 last month. This is more than any other country this week and is higher than the first wave of infections that peaked in India in September.
The increase has increased vaccine demand. Some vaccination centers are now treating long queues and running out of doses before everyone gets their vaccines.
Southern Mumbai resident Darius Lam tried to take his elderly parents to two different hospitals Thursday morning just to be sidelined. A third hospital had doses and they only got them because their age allowed them to avoid a long line of people.