Gurgaon: The city on Thursday saw its highest turnout so far in Phase 3 of
Covid-19 vaccinations covering the 60-plus population and those aged over 45 with comorbidities, with 3,711 people receiving their first jab.
Despite enthusiasm and rush at the session sites, however, the pace of the current phase has been slow overall. Over four days (there were no vaccinations on Wednesday), 9,455 people (8,631 in the first category and 824 in the second) have been given their first doses — a daily average of 1,891 recipients.
Gurgaon’s neighbouring cities are a study in contrast. Delhi’s
vaccination drive has gained momentum over the past few days. On Friday, 27,057 people got their jabs, taking their Phase 3 tally past the one lakh mark. This was the second consecutive day that the numbers stayed over 27,000.
Noida, which started off slowly on Thursday, picked up pace significantly the next day. While only 4,000 had turned up on the first day, nearly 9,000 — much more than the daily target of 7,000 — were vaccinated at 40 centres on the second day, with the government centres performing much better. The total target for this phase is 2.6 lakh.
Ghaziabad, meanwhile, has seen a stable turnout in two days. While 2,500 got jabs on Day 1 against a target of 4,000, over 4,000 turned up on Day 2, when the target was 6,000.
Gurgaon has a target of about 1.5 lakh for this phase Despite the fact that it had 51 session sites on Friday, the city has still not managed to pick up the pace. Experts attributed this to several factors. They said while walk-in registrations, document verification, billing, administration of shots and the 30-minute observation — all while maintaining social distancing — are time-consuming, this is also the first time that the Co-WIN portal is not already populated. There is also the age factor that inevitably slows down the process, they added. Plus, older people may not be at ease with technology.
Several private hospitals said the process was taking more than 45 minutes for each recipient. Dr PN Kakar, CEO, Park Hospital, said, “We are having issues with the Co-WIN portal and are not able to conduct more than three vaccinations in one hour. We are asking people to come prepared to wait for more than two or three hours.”
Dr Anjali Kaul, medical superintendent, Artemis Hospital, said, “Registration on the portal takes time. People who are old and not well-versed with technology are getting jabs in this phase so we are carefully verifying their details. Most of them are in their 70s and stay alone. So they find it difficult to register on the portal.” She added that they had enough doses and that they were arriving on time at the session sites.
At government session sites too, a large number of people are walking in every day but run into system glitches. Dr Neena Gathwal, manager of Poly Clinic in Sector 31, said, “People hardly register on the portal before coming to the session site. This takes more time. Now, we have uploaded the time table on the portal and the system has improved compared to the first three days.”
Dr Ashima Sheoran at the Wazirabad session site told TOI, “We can ask only a limited number of people to get vaccinated each day as we need to follow social distancing.”
So far, 23 government session sites have inoculated 4,774 people while 27 private hospitals have vaccinated 4,681 recipients. From next week, more session sites are expected to come up as 19 private hospitals are likely to be added to the list.
“We are looking to increase the pace of the process and will have 67 session sites on Monday. Training has been given to the 19 private hospitals. The process is being carried out in a staggered manner to avoid making turning vaccination drives into super-spreader events. The sites have to ensure they are not overcrowded,” said Gurgaon chief medical officer Virender Yadav.
Dr Yadav added that the city has “an adequate number of vaccines in cold storage”.