On the third day of Phase-II vaccination, the outcome was mixed. While some States overcame initial glitches and registered reasonable progress, others still struggled to find their feet. In all, 6.92 lakh doses were administered today.
Scene in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu showed a sharp improvement. As of 7 pm on Wednesday, a total of 66,337 persons, against 41,643 on Tuesday and 23,439 on Monday were vaccinated, according to the State Health Department.
So far, 5,89 lakh persons, including 4.66 lakh above 60 years, have taken the vaccine in the State. B Govindarajan (65), along with 10 of his relatives aged between 65 and 84, took the shot at the Hindu Mission Hospital in Tambaram. “It was flawless. It just took 10 minutes for each,” he said.
Early days’ apprehensions have gone and the people who were determined to create confusion have learnt to be silent since Indian vaccines are accepted worldwide now, he said.
“The cost is just a peanut,” he added. PS Narayanan, 67, and his mother (84), were vaccinated at the Rajaji Government Hospital in Madurai. The whole process just took five minutes for each, he said in a tweet.
Karnataka
Karnataka, too, witnessed huge demand for Covid-19 vaccination. After two days of glitches in tech-enabled appointments, the State Health Department corrected and smoothened the process, and the day saw senior citizens getting appointments on time.
On Wednesday, demand for appointments in government-run hospitals were such that many senior citizens were seen complaining that they have to wait for the end of the month as early slots were filled in record time.
The situation was the same in private hospitals. PHANA (Private Hospitals Association) urged the State government to allow more private hospitals to administer vaccines.
In Telangana, private sector hospitals scored way better than government hospitals in achieving the vaccination targets in Hyderabad. They met 94 per cent of the target set for them, while government hospitals managed about 74 per cent. However, software glitches continued to cause trouble in the State. “Three of us in our family registered for the vaccine. While the other two got slots, I have received no information. I don’t know how to go about it,” Satyanarayana Murthy, a retired professor, told BusinessLine .
Maharashtra
Maharashtra, too, faced issues with registration on CoWIN. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, while speaking in the State Assembly, admitted that there were issues with the app, but the State is not complaining about it. He added that the State needs the Centre’s support to take the drive forward. In Pune, servers were down for some time, while senior citizens queued up at vaccination centres.
Government hospitals had announced that senior citizens could come to the centre and register their names. This added to the crowd at four city centres. In other parts of the State, senior citizens participated in the drive with enthusiasm despite long queues.
Kerala
In Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan received the Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, even as the inoculation drive for senior citizens and co-morbid progressed in fits and starts. The State Health Department has not released any official data. But a large number of people may have to wait for their turn since vaccination of the priority/high-risk groups has not yet been completed in the State.
On top of this comes the directive that the 3.8 lakh staff assigned for Assembly elections duty must be covered before Saturday. No wonder, a good number of the latest identified groups have not been able to either access the portal for registration or faced delay in their roll call.
Gujarat registered some improvement by managing 60,093 jabs on Wednesday against 56,849 on Tuesday, but it was lower than 61,254 vaccination on Monday.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will go in for vaccination at LNJP Hospital on Thursday morning, official sources said. They also added that the number of people vaccinated will exceed the 11,000 that took the jab on Tuesday.
The West Bengal government did not give any details on the state of vaccination, but the ruling party Trinamool Congress alleged “blatant misuse of official machinery by the Prime Minister”, and complained to the Election Commission as vaccination certificates distributed had the photo of the PM.
(With inputs from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram
and Kolkata bureaus)