Noida/Ghaziabad: In fifth round of the first phase of the Covid vaccination drive on Thursday, GB Nagar stood at the bottom of all 75 district in UP by registering a turnout of only 48.52%. Of the total target of 6,810 healthcare workers (HCWs), the district could inoculate only 3,304 recipients. At 70.05%, Ghaziabad performed much better. The district vaccinated 3,557 HCWs of the total target of 5,078.
However, GB Nagar had the second maximum number of recipients after Lucknow, which had 12,001. The less that 50% turnout was attributed to the absence of large number of nursing and pharmacy students from Sharda hospital, many absentees from private hospitals and not many Asha and Anganwadi workers opting for the vaccination.
District magistrate Suhas LY said that apart from medical students, many clerical and hospital administration staff gave the vaccination a miss. “They claimed that they were not on active Covid duty and so didn’t want to get vaccinated,” said the DM.
Dr Manisha Jindal, Dean at School of Medical Sciences & Research (SMSR), Sharda University, told TOI that the Co-WIN portal also rejected names of several recipients. “We do not know how this happened as we had submitted a list of 5,501 HCWs. The final list doesn’t have names of many doctors and paramedical staff. We have written to the CMO and the DM on the matter,” Dr Jindal said.
While 31 centres and 58 session sites were designated for Thursday’s drive in GB Nagar, till 2pm about 35% turnout was reported from across the district and some centres saw a turnout of nearly 80% with no cases of AEFI. Co-Win portal, however, remained a challenge in a first one hour. In Ghaziabad, a similar slow start was witnessed and about 25% of vaccination was recorded till 1 pm.
Meanwhile, the second phase of Covid vaccination for frontline workers (FLWs), including police personnel, staff from panchayati raj/nagar nigam, revenue department and paramilitary forces, will begin from February 5. The day also marks the end of the first phase of the vaccination process. However, a mop-up round of remaining HCWs will be conducted on February 15, which is also the designated date for the second dose of Covid vaccine for HCWs who were inoculated on the inaugural day (January 16).
Around 10% of FLWs will be initiated for vaccination on February 5 and the number will be increase to 30% on the subsequent dates -- February 11, 12 and 18. A mop-up round for FLW is slated on February 22. Even as the registrations for FLWs will continue till February 7, so far 18,500 FLWs have been registered from GB Nagar and 18,508 from Ghaziabad.
A second consignment of 20,000 vaccine doses has been transported to Ghaziabad. In the first phase, 27,000 doses were provided. Similarly, GB Nagar had received 28,840 doses of vaccine in the first consignment and an additional 24,000 doses were provided in the second consignment.
Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said a team has been formed to call the recipients and motivate them to get the shot. Besides, doctors from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and private facilities have been assisting the health departments in both the districts in spreading awareness regarding the vaccine.