Vaccinations will be held at govt schools to tackle crowds: Health department

To tackle the heavy footfall for Covid-19 vaccination at various government health centres across the district, the health department has decided to hold vaccinations at government schools and community health centres in areas witnessing high footfalls

To tackle the heavy footfall for Covid-19 vaccination at various government health centres across the district, the health department has decided to hold vaccinations at government schools and community health centres in areas witnessing high footfalls. Officials said that elderly citizens scheduled to receive their second dose have been facing trouble due to poor social distancing norms in place.

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“Medical officers of 37 urban primary health centres (UPHC) have been directed to hold vaccination drives in government buildings having open areas, if they are facing difficulties in handling a large number of people at health centres. Vaccination camps cannot be set up at private facilities,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

From May 1, as private hospitals stopped inoculation due to a shortage of vaccines, a large percentage of vaccine beneficiaries who have been waiting for the second dose inoculation are reaching out to government health centres. Some of the major centres, at Tigra, Chauma and Laxman Vihar, among others, witnessed heavy footfall and subsequently, clashes due to low vaccine stock.

As reported by HT earlier this week, many people above the age of 60 years refrained from standing in long queues, fearing that they might get infected due to the large crowds. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, in a review meeting last week, directed that vaccinations must be held in open spaces.

On Tuesday, in some of the densely populated areas, including Gurugram village, Sukhrali and Gandhi Nagar, the vaccination drive took place at government schools. According to medical officers, multiple session sites are being conducted for different age groups, which lead to long queues.

“The rush has increased. Everyone who directly walks in wants to get inoculated, but we can inoculate only a limited number of people in a day. Crowd management or even ensuring social distancing becomes difficult as people are often agitated and refuse to follow rules,” a medical officer said, requesting anonymity.

The district health department has also requested the police department to deploy its staff for crowd management.