24/7 vaccination to be discontinued from April 1

Gurugram: Round-the-clock Covid-19 vaccination that was launched in at least six hospitals in the district on March 15 will be discontinued from April 1 due to low footfall during night hours, leading to vaccine wastage, Dr MP Singh, district immunisation officer, said on Friday

Gurugram: Round-the-clock Covid-19 vaccination that was launched in at least six hospitals in the district on March 15 will be discontinued from April 1 due to low footfall during night hours, leading to vaccine wastage, Dr MP Singh, district immunisation officer, said on Friday.

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According to the revised directives issued by the district health department on Friday, vaccination centres in 13 big hospitals of the city will now open from 8am to 8pm, and the remaining 143 sites will operate between 9am and 5pm.

“Only a few people turned up for vaccination late in the night. The response has been poor in both government and private hospitals. Therefore, hospitals have been told not to schedule appointments for overnight vaccination after March 31,” said Dr Singh. Till March 17, only 27 people were vaccinated at the six hospitals during the night hours.

Officials said vaccination timings at 13 hospitals have been advanced based on the suggestions given by the hospitals and also because it was found that people were more comfortable visiting the centres early in the day.

“The time duration for vaccination drive in 13 private hospitals has been revised. The vaccination will now start from 8am and continue till 8pm. Earlier this week, schedules were revised to 9am to 9pm slots, which has now been changed to start vaccination early,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

Among the 13 hospitals, 11 are private facilities — Medanta, Max, Fortis, Artemis, Narayana, Park, Kalyani, CK Birla, Paras, Signature and Medeor. The other two centres are Civil Hospital in sector 10 and Polyclinic in sector 31.

Out of these facilities, five ran 24/7 vaccination centres to increase the coverage and to help people bring along their aged parents to the vaccination centre before or after their office hours. Data shows that less than 10 people have taken shots in private facilities during the night hours from March 15 onwards.

With an aim to increasing the vaccination coverage, private hospitals have been advised to coordinate with Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) on holding drives in societies and condominiums, considering they have enough space to set up registration, vaccination and observation rooms within the premises.

“Private hospitals can coordinate with RWAs to set up vaccination centres within the premises of the society. The hospitals will have to first prepare the plan, which will be implemented only after discussions with the health department,” said Yadav.

Vaccination sites in the government set-up have also been increased. “Over 81 sub-centres under community and primary health centres have been activated to increase the outreach of vaccine in different areas. Vaccination will now be carried out at 156 centres, including 100 government facilities and 56 private hospitals,” said Yadav. On Friday, at least 2086 people above 60 years and 813 aged between 45 and 59 took the vaccine shots. Overall, over 140,000 lakh people in the district have been vaccinated from January 16 onwards.

A helpline number (7015663108 and 108) for all Covid-19 vaccine related queries, vaccination sites and schedule has also been launched by the health department.