No vaccine hesitancy here
Over 19K take the jabs at 76 other centres in Lko. Beneficiaries say social distancing went for a toss at the three mega camps
People stand in queue as they wait for their turn to get vaccinated at a camp set up at Chhota Imambada in Lucknow on Tuesday. On day 1 of the mega drive, as many as 3.40 lakh beneficiaries took the jabs across UP, said officials. In Lucknow, 5,633 people were inoculated at three mega centres.
LUCKNOW : The state capital’s biggest Covid-19 vaccination drive got underway on Tuesday at three mega camps at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium and the iconic Chhota Imambada. This was part of the UP government’s aggressive vaccination campaign that aims to administer around one crore doses in June.
Though Covid protocols and social distancing were ignored in the earlier part of the day as large crowds converged at vaccination centres, health department officials said the drive was successful as they managed to inoculate 5,633 people at the three centres. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited the KD Singh ‘Babu’ stadium to inspect the vaccination drive.
“The Covid-19 vaccination drive went off smoothly. Against the target to administer around 10,500 doses in a day, we inoculated around 5,633 people at the three mega centres. This was in addition to the 76 regular Covid vaccination centres across the city, which administered over 19,000 doses in a day,” said Dr MK Singh, additional chief medical officer\district immunisation officer (DIO).
The Ekana cricket stadium, Chhota Imambada and KD Singh ‘Babu’ stadium were transformed into mega vaccination centres. Despite time slots being allocated, people began pouring in since morning, which made the situation chaotic at the centres, said beneficiaries.
“We were given a time slot of 11am. Hence we reached the vaccination centre at 10:30am. But we were surprised to see a huge crowd there and Covid protocols not being followed. The situation was rather scary for us as I also suffered minor injury while entering the main gate,” said Radhika, a college-goer, who reached Ekana stadium to take the jab. Sarita Gautam, a college student who went to Ekana , said crowd management there was zero and social distancing went for a toss. “However, the management people said the crowd is huge as it is the first day of vaccination. I hope things improve in days to come or these centres would act as super-spreaders,” she said.
She said people with other time slots too thronged the centre and made things worse.
The situation was similar at the Chhota Imambada and the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium, which were crowded during initial ho urs. Though the official time for the vaccination was between 10am and 4pm, people were inoc ulated till 6pm to clear the rush.
At the Ekana stadium, 2,085 beneficiaries in 18 plus age group and 507 in the 45 plus group were vaccinated. The KD Singh ‘Babu’ stadium witnessed inoculation of 939 people in 18+ age group and 548 in the 45+ category, said officials. The Chhota Imambada centre saw vaccination of 956 people in the 18 plus category and 485 in the 45 plus age group while 47 beneficiaries took the jabs at parents’ special booth here, they said.