Vaccination for 18-45 age group
Govind Sharma
JAMMU, May 2: From not finding the designated centres to not being able to find slots and get appointments, citizens under the age group of 18-45 years mentioned several issues they faced as they took their gadgets to register for 3rd phase of COVID vaccination which began on Saturday in Jammu and Srinagar districts.
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Some users claimed that they were unable to find any designated vaccination centre when they were trying to register for the COVID-19 vaccination through CoWIN or Aarogya Setu applications while many alleged that they failed to schedule appointment for the vaccination despite their successful registration and finding the designated vaccination centres.
“I successfully got registered for COVID vaccination last evening but failed to get appointment in any of the designated centres though I have been trying for the same continuously since yesterday,” said 22-year-old Aakash Gupta, a University student and a resident of Janipur. Aakash said he even visited the designated centre at Tali Morh personally to get himself vaccinated but he was asked to come only after prior appointment through CoWIN or Aarogya Setu app.
Another netizen, Neeraj Sharma, 28, who works in a retail chemist shop said that as he comes in contact with several people while selling medicines in the shop, he decided to vaccinate himself but even after several attempts since yesterday, he failed to get an appointment and even find any dedicated COVID vaccination centre for 18+ on CoWIN app.
Similar complaints were also poured in from several other citizens across Jammu who claimed that there was “no point in prior registration and appointment” if they have to wait for 40-45 minutes for their turn standing in long queues outside the vaccination centre.
A shopkeeper, Vijay Kumar, 35, said that he reached the vaccination centre around 10 am after getting an appointment but still he had to wait for at least 40 minutes for his turn in the queue in this hot summer day. He said the queue was around 150 meters long and the social distancing was being thrown into winds by the people standing in the queue.
Stating that even people from Akhnoor, Bishnah and Arnia had come for the vaccination at designated vaccination centre at Domana while the people living nearby could not get appointment, Vijay said that the Government should increase the designated COVID vaccination centres for 18+ people so that everybody can get register him/her easily and get the jab hassle free without any botheration and wastage of time.
When contacted, Dr Saleem ur Rehman, Director Family Welfare, MCH & Immunization said, “We received only 75000 jabs each for Jammu as well as Srinagar cities and therefore, initially we have established just five vaccination centres for 18+ in Jammu district and 10 in Srinagar district, where in each centre we are inoculating 200 people every day while as only 100 people per centre is permitted.”
He said as there are only few vaccination centres for 18+, as soon as the window opens, all the centres are booked to its capacity within 5-10 minutes and thereafter, the window is automatically closed and despite registration, netizens failed to schedule their appointment. He said in the coming days they are going to establish more than 1000 centres as they have already placed order for 1.25 crore of vaccines, which they will receive within a day or two.
“Once we get more vaccines and establish more centres, people in the age group of 18-45 years will face no issue while registering them for vaccination,” he asserted.
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