Coming soon, drive-in vaccination centres in Gurgaon

The Gurgaon Health Department will, in the coming days, be working towards setting up drive-in vaccination centres in parking lots of shopping malls in the district through a tie-up with an automated smart parking solutions provider.

According to officials, the department has tied up with Park+ for this purpose, and will be holding the first such session on Friday morning at the DLF City Centre Mall on MG Road.

“The session will be meant only for those people above the age of 45 who have taken the first dose of Covishield and need to take their second dose. They do not need to book slots, registration will be on the spot,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Virender Yadav. “The drive in will begin operations from 10 am, and a total of 200 doses will be administered on a first come, first served basis,” he said.

Officials say depending on the success of this first drive-in vaccination session for Gurgaon, such drive-in vaccination centres will be set up in the other areas of the district.

“The initiative is absolutely the need of the hour in a city where testing and vaccination are happening at a huge pace and scale. Such solutions will help individuals get vaccinated and tested from the safety of their vehicle while drastically reducing the crowding and burden within hospital buildings,” said Dr Yadav.

Officials from Park+, meanwhile, said they are “already in talks with leading malls” in Gurgaon, “many of whom have expressed enthusiastic interest” in the initiative.

“The platform, which has already set up its contactless parking solutions across numerous parking lots in the city, will be able to set up safe and secure pop-up centres as and when there is vaccine availability,” read an official statement.

“With proper zoning within parking spaces we are planning a completely seamless vaccination drive for Gurugram. People will be able to sit in their cars while they wait, invariably feeling safer,” said Amit Lakhotia, founder of Park+.