Special vaccine camps low on coverage as ineligible book slots
The vaccination coverage at the government’s special vaccination camps for women and young parents has been low in Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, officials in both the districts said on Friday.
Two “abhibhavak special” vaccination centres (for young parents) in Ghaziabad, at Delhi Public School Ghaziabad (DPSG) and Kailash Mansarowar Bhawan in Indirapuram, were each given a target of vaccinating 100 beneficiaries a day, but neither was able to meet the target even once in the past 10 days.
The district health department records indicate that of the combined target to vaccinate 2,000 beneficiaries in the first 10 days of June, the two centres could vaccinate only 820 beneficiaries, which is about 41% of the 10-day target.
“There are multiple issues with the abhibhavak special centres. It was meant only for parents whose children are aged below 12 years. But during the online registration, many who do not belong under this category book slots for these centres and have to be turned away,” said a medical officer from the DPSG centre on Meerut Road, requesting not to be identified.
A similar issue is faced by the two women-only centres at ITS College in Muradnagar and the district women hospital.
The two centres opened on June 7, each with a target to vaccinate 100 beneficiaries every day. The records indicate that both the centres, combined, vaccinated only 438 beneficiaries in four days from June 7 to June 10 against a targeted total of 800, which is a coverage of about 54.75%.
“The online slots for women get booked by men too. But when they turn up at the centre, we have to send them back. In several cases, women come with their male family members and sought vaccinations for them as well, which is also not possible. Still, we have deployed our staff to take up registrations of women who come to the centre,” said Dr Pawan Kumari, the in-charge of the centre at the district women hospital.
She said the centre was earlier taking up vaccination for both men and women, till it got converted to a women-only camp.
“Our staff keep sitting there the entire day waiting for beneficiaries to arrive but only a few turn up. When the centre was for both men and women, we had a target of 400 beneficiaries per day and we exceeded that target on several days,” Kumari added.
Ghaziabad chief medical officer (CMO) Dr NK Gupta said the issues faced by special centres in Ghaziabad were the same across the state.
“The slots for special camps are accessible to ineligible people. So, they book slots without paying attention to the fact that such camps are not meant for them. When they turn up for the shot, our staff decline to vaccinate them. Till the time slots for special camps are restricted only to eligible groups, the situation will persist. We have already communicated the issue to our senior officers at the state-level,” Dr Gupta said.
The situation is similar in Gautam Budh Nagar, officials there said.
“We are also facing similar issues in our district where ineligible people book slots for special camps. We have a combined target to vaccinate 300 beneficiaries daily at our two centres meant for young parents. But the vaccination coverage is about 30-40% of that target. Similar is the case with our two women-only centres as well,” said Dr Deepak Ohri, CMO, Gautam Budh Nagar.