COVID-19 vaccination will not be conducted at Government COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (GCVCs) on Wednesdays and Sundays. However, routine vaccination for children and women would be held on Wednesdays, said Director of Public Health G. Srinivasa Rao. An order to this effect was issued to District Medical and Health Officers (DMHO) too.
However, the slots for COVID-19 jab would be available at Private COVID Vaccination Centres (PCVC) on Wednesdays.
As part of routine immunisation, children are administered BCG vaccine and vaccine against hepatitis. Pregnant women too are administered some vaccines.
“The routine immunisation programme was bare minimum in the past few months since a large number of people were turning up at Primary Health Centres (PHCs) for COVID vaccination. Now, the routine immunisation will pick up. Out reach camps too would be conducted on fourth Saturdays of every month,” said an official from the Health department.
Demand for the jabs at GCVCs spiked after the government opened first dose vaccination for everyone aged above 18 years. While slots have to be booked on COWIN to get the jab at GCVCs in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Urban Local Bodies (ULB), potential beneficiaries can walk in for the vaccination at Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in rural areas.
Meanwhile, private hospitals are witnessing a slowdown in the rush for vaccines.
Vaccination for people in the 18-44 group was initially restricted to Private COVID Vaccination Centres (PCVCs). Since there was heavy demand from this age group, slots on CoWIN were booked in span of a few minutes. In fact, people formed groups on social media platforms to pass information on about slot availability.
Employees of corporate hospitals said that the demand has come down now. “The main reason is wide availability of the vaccine doses. The government, too, is offering it free of cost. Besides, lakhs of people received the vaccine in May and June. So the demand for jabs at PCVCs now has dropped,” said an employee of a corporate hospital.
