Noida: Ineligible people book slots for booths meant only for parents, turned away

Healthcare workers in Gautam Budh Nagar district are having to turn away beneficiaries, who book their slots at the parents’ special (Abhibhwak Vishesh) Covid vaccination booths as they do not qualify or meet the conditions --of having a child of 12 years and below--based on which the inoculation centres have been set up

Healthcare workers in Gautam Budh Nagar district are having to turn away beneficiaries, who book their slots at the parents’ special (Abhibhwak Vishesh) Covid vaccination booths as they do not qualify or meet the conditions --of having a child of 12 years and below--based on which the inoculation centres have been set up.

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The special vaccination booths have been set up at the J P International school, which administers around 100 doses per day, and at a primary school in Bisrakh, which administers 300 shots a day, exclusively for parents whose children are 12 years and below. Both the centres are administering Covishield vaccines. Officials said that while the CoWIN app doesn’t have a mechanism to restrict unmarried people from booking slots at the special vaccination booths for parents, people too don’t pay attention to the exclusivity of the booths.

Dipesh Kumar, a health worker deployed in the vaccination booth set up at Bisrakh, went into a tizzy on Friday as he had to cancel the slots of many bachelors through the CoWIN portal. “We know these beneficiaries haven’t deliberately booked their slots here as the portal doesn’t restrict them in doing so. People who have at least one child below 12 years of age are eligible to get vaccinated at these booths. Parents who have booked their slots for vaccination here need to produce a document of their child’s age proof to avail of the facility,” he said.

Echoing similar views, Rakesh Kumar, a healthcare worker deployed at the vaccination booth in J P international school at Greater Noida Omega-1, said only beneficiaries who can furnish a document establishing the age of their child as 12 years or below can get a jab at these booths. “In the absence of such a document, they will not be vaccinated. On an average, we refuse at least 25 people daily, who are either unmarried or do not have any issue,” he said.

Shekhar Suman Singh (49), who lives in Greater Noida, had to return from JP International school on Friday without taking the second dose. “My children are settled in the US. The nomenclature ‘Abhibhawak Vishesh’ caught my attention and I booked the slot without going through details. I was informed at the booth that since my children do not fall in the 12-year-old age bracket, I am not eligible to take the jabs. Anyway, it was my fault and I’ll get it from some other booth after booking the slot again,” he said.

Dr Neeraj Tyagi, district immunisation officer, said, “Following directions from the Uttar Pradesh government, the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration has started vaccinating parents of children below 12 years of age against Covid-19 from June 1. “I’ve also got reports that few ineligible beneficiaries turn up every day at these two booths without checking the criteria to be vaccinated at these booths. Since we don’t have any mechanism to mention the exclusivity of these booths, people book the slots unknowingly,” he said.