Vaccine camps set up at condos, 250 receive jabs

To help senior citizens facing difficulties in travelling to vaccination centres and hospitals, the district health department on Monday held a day-long vaccination camp at two condominiums and administered vaccines to around 250 residents, officials said

To help senior citizens facing difficulties in travelling to vaccination centres and hospitals, the district health department on Monday held a day-long vaccination camp at two condominiums and administered vaccines to around 250 residents, officials said.

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“The response for Covid-19 vaccination camps in condominiums is yet to be analysed. It is a one-of-its-kind initiative to increase vaccination coverage. Therefore, our medical officers are coordinating with residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) that are approaching them. The expansion of the drive in condominiums will depend on the coverage over the next few days,” Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

On Monday, camps were set up at The Villas in DLF Phase-2 and Ridgewood Estate in DLF Phase-4, with private hospitals expected to set up camps at six more condominiums on Tuesday, officials said.

Ritu Bajaj, a resident of The Villas, said she was informed about the camp on the society premises on Sunday. “The message was circulated on the society’s official group. It, therefore, became easy to take the shot. The entire process has been hassle-free as I got myself registered on the spot and got the vaccine shot within 10 minutes,” said Bajaj.

At the site, a small registration counter was set up to register the residents on the Co-Win application, after which residents were given the jabs and made to wait for 30 minutes at a site designated for observation. However, the rooms were not separate, as specified in the guidelines.

At Ridgewood Estate, the vaccination took place at a clinic within the premises of the society, while people registered themselves at counters outside. “There are 3000 people living in the society, of whom 45% are senior citizens. In the past, we have coordinated with the health department in getting our people vaccinated at the nearby health centre. We especially asked them to set up a camp in our society,” said Gurpreet Singh, president, Ridgewood Estate, RWA.

According to him, at least 75 people took the shot on Monday. “Since a large percentage of the elderly population have already been vaccinated in the last 20 days, it is likely the second camp will now be held in mid-April. As the interval between two doses of Covishield has been extended by four to eight weeks, we have asked the health department to place the camp in mid-April for people who have already taken the shot in the first week of March,” said Singh.

On Tuesday, camps are likely to be set up at Silver Oaks Society, Palm Springs, Mapple Heights, Pinnacle Club, Vatika Indianext and Ardee City in Sector 52.

“Vaccination camps will be set up in at least one to two condos every day during this week. It includes Ardee City, Ireo Uptown in Sector 66, Park View City-1 in Sector 48, Uppal Southend in Sector 49), Ireo Skyon in Sector 60 and M3M Golf Estate. In most of them, our clinics are already functional, which makes it easy to set up the camps. A few RWAs have also approached for setting up camps,” said Dr Sushila Kataria, director and head of internal medicine at Medanta Hospital.