GURUGRAM: The turnout of recipients on the fifth day of the Covid-19 vaccination drive dropped on Saturday, a day after it had seen a spurt. Around 59.4% recipients came to the 86 session sites which were set up across the city, while 91% had turned up the previous day. So far, Gurugram has covered 13,823 recipients and met 37% of its total target of 37,000.
Covishield was administered to 2,987 recipients at 82 sites on Saturday. The remaining four sites administered Covaxin to 68 recipients. Notably, three cases of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) were reported in the city. Altogether, 3,055 people of the 5,320 scheduled lined up to get their first dose of the Covid vaccine.
The fifth day of inoculation saw a slow day throughout. Officials from the health department and private hospitals attributed the low turnout to it being the weekend. Till 2pm, the turnout was around 30%. “The response was low compared to the last two days as many healthcare workers do not work on weekends, and thus the walk-ins saw a dip,” said a senior doctor at Park Hospital.
Health department officials said they were hopeful that the turnout would increase on Monday. Gurugram chief medical officer Virender Yadav said, “We witnessed a decline in turnout on Saturday because healthcare workers who work in private hospitals don’t come to work on weekends. We are planning to conduct 25 to 30 session sites on Sunday, and these sites will not be set up in government facilities. We will have these sites at private hospitals.”
The health department is targeting to vaccinate 2,000 recipients on Sunday. The next day, it plans to set up more than 50 session sites. Sunday will be the first time that the number of session sites will go down.
Session sites had gone up from six last Saturday, the first day of the vaccination drive, to 45 on Monday. On Thursday too, the initial plan was to have 45 sites, but nine more were added later to accommodate health workers who had missed getting the shots on Monday. On Friday, 36 session sites were held, all in private hospitals.
Gurugram has been able to vaccinate the highest number of health workers so far in Haryana. The city had witnessed a turnout of 101% on the first day of inoculation on January 16, when 608 health workers received the jabs. But the figure had dropped to 60% on Monday, with 2,881 recipients turning up. On Thursday, the figure jumped to 80% as 4,001 recipients came forward for the jab while on Friday, the city witnessed a turnout of 91% with 3,278 healthcare workers getting their first jabs.
Many recipients had initially expressed apprehensions about the possible side-effects of the vaccine. The health department on Saturday conducted counselling sessions at the Civil hospital in Sector 10 to motivate health workers to opt for vaccination.
Private hospitals and public healthcare centres say they have been able to gradually build confidence about the vaccine through constant counselling.
At both private and government settings, senior doctors are coming forward for vaccination to motivate others, they said.