Residents struggle to get second vaccine dosage

Even as the district health department is prioritising Covid-19 vaccine beneficiaries who are awaiting their second jabs, many of them have been continuously struggling to book a slot on the Co-WIN portal or getting inoculated through a direct walk-in

Even as the district health department is prioritising Covid-19 vaccine beneficiaries who are awaiting their second jabs, many of them have been continuously struggling to book a slot on the Co-WIN portal or getting inoculated through a direct walk-in. Health officials said that 30 vaccination centres have been administering only 100 doses in a day, each, due to the limited supply of the vaccines.

HT Image

“The state has allocated additional 13,000 doses on Wednesday to inoculate prioritised population group above 45 years with the second dose. They are on priority, but every vaccination centre gets only 100 doses for inoculation, so only limited people receive doses every day,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

On Wednesday, at least 3,250 people aged 45 years and above took the jab, including over 2,963 people who took their second shot, at government health centres, while 154 received their jabs at private hospitals. Owing to the restricted stock, only 88 managed to get their first dose, said officials.

The vaccination has declined dramatically since the inoculation of the population aged 18-44 started. Private hospitals have run out of stock after state administrations, complying with the vaccine policy, directed hospitals to procure vaccine doses from manufacturers.

Citizens who have taken their first shot in private facilities are now visiting multiple centres to get their last dose at the scheduled time.

Atul Sarin (50), a resident of DLF-Phase 1, visited four health facilities on Wednesday but failed to get the shot. “It has been almost eight weeks since I took the first dose. To avoid further delay, I tried booking a slot on the CoWIN portal, but it showed no slots were available. I personally visited four private hospitals and government health centres on Wednesday, but everyone cited the same problem, of unavailability of vaccine stock,” said Sarin.

Relating a similar experience, 60-year-old Naveen Rangera faced troubles in finding centres where Covaxin is administered. “Covaxin is not easily available. Wherever it is available, a huge crowd is seen, which is dangerous to encounter during this time, when infections are being rapidly transmitted. Since health centres in the city are crowded, we thought of getting the shot in rural centres through a direct walk-in. But they too had no vaccine doses,” said Rangera.