NEW DELHI – Hospitals in the middle of hot spots in India remain without vaccines as infections have increased, triggering a rush to be inoculated.
Hospitals in Mumbai and elsewhere are facing growing lines of people wanting shots and having to return them. Some people go from hospital to hospital trying to get vaccinated. Some started the protests.
India has become the epicenter of the global pandemic as the number of new cases a day rose to more than 120,000 this week from less than 20,000 last month. This is more than any other country this week and bigger than the first wave of infections that peaked in India in September.
The increase in vaccine demand has increased. Some vaccination centers now face long lines and run out of doses before everyone can take their pictures.
Darius Lam, a resident of southern Mumbai, tried to take his elderly parents to two different hospitals on Thursday morning just to be removed. A third hospital had doses and they only managed to get them because their age allowed them to avoid a long line of people.