CoWIN glitches mar mega vaccination drive in Gautam Budh Nagar

A total of 29,775 people, much short of the target of 50,000, were vaccinated at government-run CVCs on Monday. About 16,494 of them were administered the first dose and 13,281 were administered the second dose

The Gautam Budh Nagar district health department could only vaccinate 29,775 people, against a target of 50,000, at 137 government-run Covid-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs) during a mega vaccination drive on Monday. Glitches in the CoWIN portal slowed down vaccination pace at several centres, officials said.

According to the door-to-door surveillance carried out by the health department from September 7 to 16, a total of 56,489 people over the age of 45 are yet to get Covid-19 vaccine in Gautam Budh Nagar. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Monday’s vaccination drive was aimed at inoculating as many people from the 45+ age category, who have not been given the first dose so far, as possible. Officials had said on Sunday that the drive will also focus on administering as many second doses as possible.

“A total of 29,775 people were vaccinated at government-run CVCs on Monday. About 16,494 of them were administered the first dose and 13,281 were administered the second dose. Of these, 9,000 people were over the age of 45, with 4,000 receiving their first dose and 5,000 receiving their second dose,” said Dr Neeraj Tyagi, district immunisation officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.

According to the door-to-door surveillance carried out by the health department from September 7 to 16, a total of 56,489 people over the age of 45 are yet to get Covid-19 vaccine in Gautam Budh Nagar, said officials. The district health department has been instructed to ensure this age group gets vaccinated.

“Over 50,000 people in Gautam Budh Nagar above the age of 45 are yet to get vaccinated. While we could not cover all of them in Monday’s vaccination drive, we are sure that within a week they will be vaccinated with at least the first dose. The department’s ASHA workers are ensuring they turn up for vaccinations,” said Dr Tyagi.

Meanwhile, some beneficiaries complained that vaccination did not start on time at their nearest CVC.

“We reached the CVC at Gaurs International School at 10am but vaccination did not start till 12pm. A huge crowd had gathered at the CVC, and hence we left without getting vaccinated,” said Naval Kishore Singh, a resident of Greater Noida west.

Officials said glitches in the CoWIN portal delayed vaccination at some CVCs. “The health officials were facing a lot of problems on the CoWIN portal as it slowed down due to heavy data entry. As a result, most vaccination centres couldn’t achieve their target for the day,” said Dr Tyagi.

Chief medical officer Dr Sunil Sharma said that of the 137 CVCs, 54 were the regular ones run by the health department. “Online slot booking as well as walk-in facilities available at the 54 CVCs, while the rest had walk-in facilities. Slot booking is not required at the new CVCs, but registration on the CoWIN portal is still mandatory,” said Sharma.

The nationwide Covid-19 vaccination programme began on January 16 this year. Since then, Gautam Budh Nagar has administered 2,421,860 jabs, and 735,899 of the beneficiaries have received both doses of the vaccine.

During the last mega vaccination drive held on September 17 too, Gautam Budh Nagar had fallen short of its target of 32,000 by managing to inoculate only 25,160 beneficiaries.