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Delhi residents travel over 200km to Agra to get Covid-19 jabs
The Delhi government has on several occasions flagged the shortage of vaccines and said that it has impacted the speed of vaccination among people aged between 18-44 years.
Several people in the 18-44 age group from the Delhi-NCR region are travelling more than 200 kilometres to vaccine administration centres in Agra to get their jabs.
Officials of Moolchand Medcity in Agra said that it started vaccinating people from June 4 and out of 450 beneficiaries vaccinated so far, 40% belong to Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Meerut, Etawah and Mathura. “After the second wave of Covid-19, people have realised the importance of getting vaccinated. They are even travelling 250 kilometres to get the jabs,” Vibhu Talwar, medical director of Moolchand Medcity was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
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Talwar said that it was a good sign that people are participating in the Covid-19 and said it reflects that citizens are now taking the pandemic seriously. “People have been coming from Mainpuri, Aligarh, Etawah, Mathura, Delhi, Meerut, Gurgaon, Noida, among other places, to get vaccinated. It is a good sign that people are travelling 250 kilometres to get inoculated against Covid-19,” he further added. A person travelled on a bike to Agra to get his jab.
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“There is scarcity of vaccines, especially for the 18-44 age group, in Delhi. I consider myself lucky to get my second dose at the Agra hospital. I believe ₹1,800 and above charged by private hospitals is nothing as compared to a person's life,” the person told PTI.
The Delhi government has on several occasions flagged the shortage of vaccines and said that it has impacted the speed of vaccination among people aged between 18-44 years. “It is becoming a serious issue as a lot of people in the 18-44 group are nearing their date for the second dose. We have also come across reports about people travelling 100-200 km to Meerut, Bulandshahr to get their shots because there are no vaccines in Delhi,” AAP leader Atishi flagged on Tuesday.
But several beneficiaries were not so lucky. On June 3, several beneficiaries returned from government vaccination centres without getting jabs as authorities said that only those having a state residence proof can avail the facility, citing an order by the state’s mission director of the National Health Mission (NHM), according to a report by HT. This rider does not apply to private hospitals in the state.
The Centre on Monday said it will provide a fresh supply of vaccines for this age group on June 10.
