Good response on Day 1: Officials

ON FRIDAY, as the 75-day free booster dose drive of Covid-19 vaccines began, long queues were spotted outside government health centres in Kolkata. A large number of people were standing in a queue at the Matrisadan Bidhannagar Hospital on a rainy afternoon with their Aadhaar cards.

“There has been a good response to the vaccine drive. Nearly 200 people have come since morning. More people are expected as the day progresses,” said an official at the hospital. The Bidhanagar Subdivison Hospital saw an even better response. An official said, “Around 320 people have shown up since morning. People of all ages have shown up.”

A middle-aged woman was asked to come back on Saturday morning as they had run out of vaccines.“We have been waiting for quite some time. I couldn’t come here earlier because I had work in the morning and now I’ll have to come back on Saturday,” the woman said.

The urban Primary Health Centre in Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) borough 10, however, saw a smaller crowd as many were unaware of the notification. A student at a private university said, “Our college asked students to get the booster dose as a safety measure.”

An elderly woman said that she was unable to receive the booster shot the previous time. “My husband was 60 years old and my age was 59 the last time we came to get the booster and at the time, the booster shot was administered to people aged 60 and above only. When I heard they were giving free booster doses to people above 18, I came back to get the jab,” said the woman. 

Meanwhile, West Bengal’s Covid-19 tally rose to 20,65,360 on Friday, with 3,067 people testing positive, while five more died in the past 24 hours.