Kolkata: Get coupons from cops for Covid jabs – Times of India

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has roped in police to distribute coupons (on a first-come-first-served basis) to recipients queuing up for jabs at its vaccination mega centres. This new system is being developed as part of a strategy to crack down on touts who have been active at the city’s mega centres and fleecing people with promises of ensuring a jab at these centres.
Sources in the civic body said KMC board of administrators (BoA) chairman Firhad Hakim has taken the initiative for a mega centre located close to his residence. It has been effective in keeping touts at bay. Following allegations that a section of local toughs was taking cash from vaccine aspirants of the neighbourhood for a shot at Ahindra Mancha, Hakim asked the Chetla police to issue coupons to bonafide recipients from the police station so that they could show them at the entry to Ahindra Mancha and get the jab free of cost.
Similar processes could be followed at other mega vaccination centres, said a civic official.
According to a civic source, though the mega centres were set up to cater to the needs of the priority group, these centres also vaccinating those who are waiting for the second dose or people in the 18-44 age group who are queuing up at these mega centres. “This has led to a huge demand for vaccination and taking advantage of citizen’s desperation to get the jab, touts have started crowding outside these mega centres. We need to weed out this racket. Else, the citizens will suffer in the days to come,” a KMC official said.
Vaccination clinics located across 144 wards are not spared of this menace, said a KMC medical officer. In fact, the pressure is particularly on the clinics as they have been allocating 70 % of the daily vaccine supply for recipients of the second dose. The remaining 30 % vaccine supply has been reserved for citizens in the age group 18-44 and above. “Most of our clinics are experiencing a huge supply and demand gap and a section of touts is taking advantage of this,” said a KMC borough executive health officer.
According to a KMC health department senior official, the civic body would now need to keep a constant vigil over the activities of a section of touts who are getting active outside the civic body’s vaccination clinics. “The civic brass has taken a timely decision to distribute vaccination coupons at the mega centres. This system will go a long way in ensuring a smooth, tout-free vaccination process,” said a KMC medical officer posted at one of the civic body’s Covid vaccination clinics.
The mode and time of distribution of coupons from the KMC vaccination clinics is in the process. “We may need to distribute coupons 24 hours in advance,” a KMC official said.