Health dept opens 3,800 Co-WIN slots for second dose vaccinations

Health dept anticipates increase in demand for second dose vaccinations as vaccinations for the 18-45 age group started in May

To meet the demand for the second dose of Covid-19 vaccinations, the district health department has opened 3,800 slots on the Co-WIN platform for online appointments in addition to the direct walk-in policy that is currently being followed.

A dedicated vaccination camp has been set up to inoculate school staff. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Officials said that starting Saturday, slots will be made available for the second shots besides the 4,750 slots currently allotted through tokens at the vaccination centres. They said that since many people above the age of 18 years will be completing the time interval of three months after taking the first shot in May, the demand for the second dose will increase.

“Half of the second dose slots of Covishield will be opened for online appointment and rest will be walk-in, whereas all first dose slots of Covishield will be through a walk-in. In the case of Covaxin, only a second slot will be available through a direct walk-in. The change in the vaccination strategy has been adopted to increase the second dose inoculation now and timely complete the vaccination schedule of people,” Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer of Gurugram, said.

According to Yadav, online slots will be published on the Co-WIN website from 4.45pm to 5.30pm a day prior. “People who will book their slots online for Covishield can get vaccinated between 10am and 2pm,” said Yadav. Data available on the Co-WIN portal shows that 2,167,798 doses of the Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the district since January 16, of which 1,603,478 were the first dose and 564, 320 were the second dose.

On Friday, at least 17, 512 vaccine doses were administered, of which 6,771 were given at government health centres and 10, 741 at private hospitals. On Saturday, vaccination will be held at 48 session sites, with a target to administer about 14, 350 doses, including 5,800 first doses of Covishield.

Vaccination camps for teachers

The health department is organising special vaccination camps for people associated with the education department. This includes both the teaching and non-teaching staff. These camps are being held in government and private schools near health centres.

On Saturday, vaccination will be held at 14 centres. At these centres, 100 doses are available, of which 50 will be given as the first shot and the remaining 50 as the second shot.

“About 18,000 teaching staff have been inoculated with at least a single dose. Almost 4,100 teachers are yet to be vaccinated. Medical officers at government health centres have been directed to complete the coverage by August 24,” said Yadav.

On Friday, 936 school staff received the first dose of their vaccines while 194 took the second dose. A special vaccination camp was also held for journalists, in which 64 took the second shot and eight people took the first shot.