Gated communities in Chennai seem to be nudging their residents and support staff to disclose their vaccination status. In the last few months, many communities organised camps on their premises to enable residents to get the vaccine shot without any hassle. Now, the time is ripe for counting the fully and partially vaccinated. Some consider this exercise important as many common amenities are being opened up due to relaxation in rules by the Government. Knowing the community’s vaccination profile would help determine the level of risk that goes with opening up these facilities.
At Kochar Panchsheel, a gated community in Ambattur, the management committee has asked the residents to mark themselves vaccinated in the Adda app’s vaccine tracking feature, which can be viewed by all residents in the community. It informs neighbours how many have taken one dose, and how many both doses.
Santhosh Abraham, a resident of the community, says that from the 430 flats, over 300 people have taken the jab. “These numbers also show that many are using the feature in the App and are keen on learning about the vaccination status of their neighbours,” says Santhosh.
Olympia Panache, a community with 90 occupied villas, has been keeping count in two formats: A WhatsApp group where the resident mentions the villa number and number of people who have taken the vaccine; and then in the MyGate app.
Viji Govindaswami, a resident, points out people have been voluntarily updating their vaccination status on both these groups though she will not exactly know which has the latest updates.
Viji says they did not have to put any of their amenities on hold during the second wave as there were not too many cases at the community.
At a few communities in MRC Nagar, the Corporations field staff came down to collect the data of residents who are vaccinated.
For communities where usage of apartment management apps is low, google forms is an option worth exploring.
“A simple Google form is what I have suggested where every family can list members who are in the vaccination-eligible age group and their vaccination status,” says Deepa Makesh, a committee member at Mayflower Ceebros Gardens in Virugambakkam. For the house maids and support staff, she says, although they do not have any documented proof, a majority of them have taken the jab at the camps conducted at the community,” says Deepa. The same Google form can also have a column where one can update the vaccination status of the house maids and drivers, she says.
Deepa says it is essential to carry out such an exercise as it gives greater assurance to residents on how ready they are for any future wave. She adds, “Having a count will also boost the confidence of people, especially those looking to use common amenities.”