Two shopping malls in the city will start vaccination on their premises on Wednesday. Recipients can drive in or walk in without booking a slot.
South City Mall on Prince Anwar Shah Road will begin a drive-in vaccination while Acropolis Mall will offer walk-in vaccination. AMRI Hospitals will provide vaccinators and doctors, apart from the doses.
Opening vaccination sites in places like malls, which are frequented by many Calcuttans, creates a feeling of comfort among recipients. Many who have a mental block in visiting clinics to take the jab could find it easier to get vaccinated at a place they have visited multiple times before, said a Calcuttan.
“The drive-in vaccination will be held in the first-floor parking area. We have nine levels of parking at South City Mall. Visitors will not have any problem parking their cars,” said Dip Biswas, the deputy general manager of South City Mall.
Recipients will not have to step off the car to get vaccinated.
An official of AMRI Hospitals said recipients would only have to register on the CoWIN portal but they would not have to book a slot.
The same rule applies to those who will be vaccinated at Acropolis Mall. “Register on the CoWIN portal and walk into Acropolis Mall. You will not need to book a slot,” said the AMRI official. Both facilities will administer Covishield.
A portion of the fourth floor of Acropolis Mall has been converted into a makeshift vaccination centre, said an official of the mall. “There is empty space on the fourth floor where the vaccination will be held. We have been vaccinating our retailers as well as those who are employees of offices located in the building,” said the official.
Quest Mall had started the first drive-in vaccination facility in Calcutta earlier this month. It was stopped for a day because of unavailability of doses and has since resumed. The mall will, however, keep open its drive-in vaccination facility for a shorter duration from Wednesday.
“Till Tuesday, the drive-in vaccination at Quest Mall was held between 10am and 4pm. But as malls would open for visitors from Wednesday, the hours of drive-in vaccination would be reduced to between 10am and 12.30pm,” said Dilip Sen, the managing director of Quest Mall.
Unlike at Quest Mall, the doses to be administered at South City Mall and Acropolis Malls are chargeable. The drive at Quest is being conducted with doses supplied by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
City Centre Salt Lake had also started a walk-in vaccination. It plans to offer the service at least till the end of June, said an official of the Ambuja Neotia group, the owner of City Centre.
Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/calcutta/covid-two-calcutta-shopping-malls-to-offer-jabs-from-today/cid/1818945
