Covid-19: Registration rush across Kolkata as 45+ group gets first shot – Times of India

Kolkata: The first day of vaccination for 45-plus recipients in Kolkata saw a huge turnout both at government health set-ups and private hospitals. In order to inoculate the maximum number of recipients, the state health department has decided to keep all vaccination centres across the state open on all days in April. On Thursday, 2,673 sessions were held and so far, around 1,29,128 people have been vaccinated in the state. The total vaccination count stands at 52.7 lakh.
“The vaccine will be offered on all days in April, including gazetted holidays, at vaccination centres across private and government hospitals,” said a health department source.
Jadavpur resident Surjya Sen, a private firm employee, had set out from his residence at 8am and when he reached the Kolkata Municipal Corporation-run centre at Layelka at 8.15am and registered, he was behind 91 people. In fact, several people had turned up as early as 5.30am. By 10am, when the vaccination process had started, the queue had become quite long.
“When I reached the clinic I was surprised to find over 90 people had already been registered. I was lucky to have got the jab today itself,” said Sen, who turned 45 last year.
A TOI visit to KMC’s Layelka clinic revealed while the civic body had a provision for attending to 150 applicants on April 1, by 12.45pm 147 had been registered and there was still a queue. “Based on the availability of vaccines, we can attend to 150 applicants today. If more turn up, we will ask them to visit some other day,” said a civic official. According to the official, of the 150 applicants, around 50 belonged to the 45-59 age group and the rest were senior citizens.
According to a KMC health department official, the civic brass had adopted measures for enhancement of the capacity at ward vaccination centres predicting a surge in applicants from Thursday. But they could not satisfy all due to a rush. “We opened 80 clinics across the city and enhanced our vaccination capacity to a target of 10,000 per day. But we need to enhance our capacity further,” the official said.
Some of the KMC clinics that saw a rush include Mayor’s Clinic at Chetla, and KMC clinics in Behala, Garia, Patuli, Tollygunge, Jorasanko, College Street, Bidhan Sarani, Sinthee, Central Avenue, Burrabazar and Taltala.
Besides KMC clinics, the state health department on Thursday opened its Kolkata Metropolitan Urban Health Organization (KMUHO) units to cater to the vaccination demand. On Thursday, at the KMUHO Sulekha unit, only 100 out of those who turned up could be vaccinated. Of them, 40% were in the 45-59 age group. “We need to enhance our capacity as we are predicting a surge in applicants,” said Tanima Mandal, in charge of KMUHO units.
At Medica Superspecialty Hospital, 600 people in the 45-59 age group took the jab on Thursday while at 145 were vaccinated at Peerless Hospital. The three units of AMRI vaccinated 363 recipients.