POLLING BOOTHS TO BE ROPED IN FOR VACCINATION
The Delhi government has launched a new Covid-19 vaccination campaign -“Jahan vote, wahan vaccination” — for those aged 45 and older, with the aim of administering at least the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to 5.7 million city residents in four weeks, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday. At least 13,000 booth level officers will be deployed for this drive, the proposal for the exercise, seen by HT, said.
“Under this drive, we will visit people’s houses and inform the eligible beneficiaries that now they can get vaccinated at polling centres,” he said.
The Delhi government has launched a new Covid-19 vaccination campaign — “Jahan vote, wahan vaccination” — for those aged 45 years and older, with the aim of administering at least the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine to 5.7 million city residents in four weeks, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced in a digital press briefing on Monday. At least 13,000 booth level officers (BLOS) will be deployed for this drive, the proposal for the exercise, seen by HT, said.
“From today, we are launching a new drive under which we will visit every household in Delhi and get those who are 45 years and above vaccinated. At present, our vaccination centres for the 45+ category are witnessing low turnout because of their locations. So, now we will create centres at the booth level. If we keep getting sufficient vaccines from the Central government, we will complete the first dose of all such beneficiaries in four weeks after which the same cycle will be repeated when they are due for the second dose,” Kejriwal said.
“Under this drive, we will visit people’s houses and inform the eligible beneficiaries that now they can get vaccinated at polling centres. Usually polling centres are located very close to the voters of their area,” he said. The same drive will be rolled out for the 18-45 category as and when the Delhi government receives sufficient stocks of vaccines, Kejriwal added.
Delhi has a population of 5.7 million who are 45 years and older, of which 2.7 million have received the first dose of vaccine till now. At least 3 million more people in this age group have not received even a single dose in the city.
Kejriwal said the Delhi government has activated all its booth level officers (BLOS) for this drive, a section of whom is being trained on Monday. “Delhi has 272 wards and with two assembly constituencies (New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment area), the number of wards comes to nearly 280. Every week, this drive will be conducted in 70 wards. Today, BLOS of the first 70 wards are being trained. Tomorrow (Tuesday) and the day after (Wednesday), these BLOS will visit each household in their area and ask if there are people who are 45 years and above. The BLOS, during their visit, will book slots for those who are yet to be vaccinated and share the date, time and location of the centre with the identified beneficiary,” he said.
The BLOS will also be provided with a voter list through which they can identify people in that category. But, even if someone’s name is not on the voter list, this door-to-door outreach programme will ensure they receive the vaccine, Kejriwal said. The Delhi government will not send BLOS alone; teams have been formed. Each team will have a BLO and a civil defence volunteer for the doorto-door drive.
“Those who totally refuse to get any dose of vaccination — our teams will try to convince them and explain the advantages of getting vaccinated against Covid-19. The cycle for every batch of 70 wards will be of 5 days each. Tomorrow (Tuesday) our teams will visit people and book slots for day after tomorrow (Wednesday) and this cycle will be repeated. A record will be maintained of those who did not turn up at the centres for vaccination. Such people will be visited by our teams again to convince them to get vaccinated. So, there will be two rounds of outreach,” said Kejriwal.
The chief minister said the government is also arranging e-rickshaws on a large scale to provide free pick up and drop facility to the beneficiaries between their homes and the centres.
On May 31, former Delhi BJP president and Rohini MLA Vijender Gupta flagged the issue of low turnout in government vaccination centres meant for the 45+ category and demanded the intervention of lieutenant governor Anil Baijal.
“Delhi has 180 vaccination centres where Covishield is being administered to people above 45 years. In all these places, the footfall is significantly dismal. In Sector-9 Rohini on May 30, the centre had 400 Covishield vaccine doses available, however, only 55 people took the dose. On May 31, only 70 people visited the centre, while it had 400 Covishield doses available for people above 45 years of age. At Prashant Vihar’s vaccination centre, on May 29, 100 doses of Covishield were available at the Centre, but only one person got the jab. When the official-in-charge was contacted, he said that on May 28, 100 doses were available, of which 16 doses were administered and 4 doses were wasted,” Gupta said on May 31.