Lukewarm response to walk-in vaccination drive in Chandigarh
Only 7,398 vaccine doses were administered across the UT on the first day of the drive, as compared to 6,764 people jabbed the previous day, when only prior bookings were allowed
The Chandigarh health department on Tuesday started a walk-in vaccination facility for eligible beneficiaries across all hospitals and dispensaries in the city, but not many turned up at the site.
Only 7,398 vaccine doses were administered across the UT on Tuesday, even when a large population in the 18-44 age group are yet to take their first shot. On Monday, 6,764 doses were administered with prior bookings and mobile vans.
Of the 7,398 beneficiaries, 6,123 in the 18-44 age category and 863 in the 45-plus age group took their first shots. A total of 368 beneficiaries took their second dose.
Till now the beneficiaries had to book a slot through the CoWIN app to take the jab, but the UT health department had decided to allow people to get on-the-spot registration for vaccination.
However, people can continue to take prior appointments through the online portal to avoid spending time on registration. If citizens are not registered on the CoWIN portal, the staff at the vaccination centres will help them in the process, an official said.
“Since most of the population in the 45-plus age category has already been inoculated with the first dose, only people in the 18-44 age category are turning up at the vaccination sites. Also, our focus remains on vaccinating the targeted group, including the vulnerable sections of the society like shopkeepers, vendors, etc. We are getting a good response from people and we will soon vaccinate the eligible population,” said Dr Amandeep Kang, director, UT health services.
Dr Kang further added, “Our health teams are helping people to do on-the-spot registration as not every section of the society is aware about booking the slots online. Besides, people are also walking-in to mobile vaccination vans and with their help, we will be able to vaccinate people living in urban-clusters at the earliest.”
So far, the health department has administered 4,67,343 vaccine doses, including 1,45,422 in the 18-44 age group. In the 45+ age category, 1,95,946 beneficiaries have received the first dose and 48,211 have been jabbed twice.
UT to get supply of 2 lakh doses in July
While giving details about the availability of the vaccine stock in Chandigarh, Dr Kang said, “At present, 40,000 vaccine doses are available in Chandigarh and we can get 50,000 more doses from the central government for the month of June. Besides this, the central government has allocated 2 lakh doses for Chandigarh for the month of July.”
Of the 2 lakh doses, 1.5 lakh will be given to government hospitals while 50,000 will be for private hospitals in the city. Dr Kang said, “We have enough vaccines in store to vaccinate the eligible population at the earliest.”
UT administrator VP Singh Badnore during a review meeting on Tuesday also advised director health services to form a vaccination team to administer doses at home for those senior citizens who cannot visit the vaccination centres owing to being bed-ridden or suffering from acute illnesses. Meanwhile, the Mohali administration has already launched the home-vaccination service for seniors and specially-abled people.