West Bengal vaccine units yet to get guideline on pre-bookings

KOLKATA: Even as Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) across the state are yet to get a written guideline on lifting the mandatory pre-Co-Win registration for the 18-44 age group, some hospitals have started working to facilitate policy change. While some are getting ready to arrange extra kiosks to help spot registration, some said they will wait for a clear guideline.
But many private CVCs said that prior self-registration and booking of slots in advance was enabling better crowd management while reducing the turnaround time for a vaccine recipient. “We have added three more counters at our three hospital vaccination sites to help people in walk-in registration. But we will still request people to register themselves and come as this will reduce their waiting time and ensure less crowd,” said R Venkatesh, regional director (east), Narayana Health. All CVCs had introduced walk-in registration facilities when the inoculation drive for the 60 plus age group was launched to facilitate the elderly people.
“We did not have a single person who turned up at our CVC without pre-registration on Wednesday. But we will try not to turn away if someone comes without being registered. We will help in the registration. Coming with prior appointment is always a better option,” said Peerless CEO, Sudipta Mitra.
At Belle Vue, out of 700 people who got their doses on Wednesday, around 500 were registered on the spot.
“Some people are not net savvy at all. So leaving room for on spot registration will help these people,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO Belle Vue.
Many private CVCs are already rationing their daily doses with the uncertainty of the supply chain shift from June 21 onwards when they will start getting supply from the state government instead of the manufacturers. They feel that many turning up without prior booking may result in chaos. “Pre-registration and prior slot booking streamlines the process of dispensing the doses as people don’t have to stand in queues and it reduces the waiting period. We are, however, helping a few in on-spot registration,” said Rupali Basu, managing director, Woodlands.
“The 18-44 group is largely techsavvy. Over 90% of them drop in at our CVC after prior registration. So, our team will help them getting the registration done,” said Simmardeep Gill, COO, CK Birla Hospitals CMRI.
On Wednesday the number of doses administered in the state dipped to around 1,17,000. On Tuesday, it was close to 2,40,000. Health officials said the Jamai Sasthi festival could be one of the causes behind this drop.