Noida/Ghaziabad: The final mop-up round of vaccinations for healthcare workers (HCWs) was carried out in Noida and Ghaziabad on Monday; and much like before many did not turn up.
In Ghaziabad, only 19% of HCWs turned up for Covid vaccination on Monday while about 81% came to take the second dose. Altogether, Ghaziabad was able to record only 22% of the vaccination coverage, which is the lowest so far.
In Noida, too, just 18.8% of the HCWs turned up for the vaccine while 76.5% came to take their second shot. The overall vaccination was just 21%, which was the lowest in Noida so far.
However, following the dismal turnout, the state government has now decided to give one more chance to HCWs and decided to hold another mop-round on February 19.
About 7,700 in Ghaziabad and 11,500 in Noida were supposed to get vaccinated at 39 and 26 centres, respectively. Of these, about 400 in both cities were to get their second dose of the vaccine.
Covid vaccination was for the first time conducted in both the districts on January 5.
In Ghaziabad, out of 400 beneficiaries, 379 people had taken the jab. They were supposed to get the second dose on Monday, but only 309 out of 379 beneficiaries turned up. On being called from the vaccination centers, some said they were out of station while a few cited ill health for their absence. Besides them, 7343 HCWs - who had not taken the vaccination during the scheduled rounds - were selected for the mop-round. However, only 1,405 medicos came to centres.
In Noida, around 24,000 HCWs were initially registered to be vaccinated which later increased to 26,098. Of these, 14907 had taken the shot earlier. The rest 11,191 had not taken the vaccine during the initial rounds. However, even during the mop-up on Monday, just 2126 turned up. Senior officials in the health department said that the turnout was expected since these were people who had not taken the vaccine in the initial round itself.
The record for the second dose was better as of the 393 who were supposed to get the second shot in Noida, 301 took the jab.
According to officials, the health department had made arrangements at 39 centers having 62 teams in Ghaziabad and at 26 centres and 80 session sites in Noida.
Sources said calls were also made to these beneficiaries for vaccination, but many people had switched off their phones or gave some excuses for not taking the vaccine. Some who came for the vaccination said they had missed earlier because of a prior engagement like being out of town or ill-health.
A senior official said health workers are constantly being motivated for vaccination on behalf of the department. Most of the people who did not turn up are medical students who have gone home. Medical college managements have been asked to call all the students for vaccination.