Noida/Ghaziabad: The special vaccination camps set up for vendors, drivers, parents, women and other groups have been seeing a lukewarm response in both Noida and Ghaziabad.
While all the slots get booked on Co-WIN, only 50-60% of the recipients turn up at the site.
And many of them who arrive are found to be ineligible.
Officials said the low turnout could be because many of the recipients who registered for the special camps might have already got vaccinated while others prefer going to session sites close to their homes.
“The response at the sites for street vendors and abhibhavaks (guardians) is not very good.
One of the deterrents could be that a person has to visit sites that are far from home and produce various documents to prove that they are parents.
Several government centres are closer to urban villages across the district where they just need to show their Aadhaar card and get a free jab,” said a senior health official in Noida.
There are two special vaccination centres for guardians, two for women, one for street vendors and one for auto and cab drivers.
“There is no government order to close them.
This month, camps for several groups have been conducted, and our daily numbers have increased considerably.
There are chances people got themselves vaccinated at the nearest centre instead of going to a special camp,” nodal officer Dr GP Mathuria said.
These centres are expected to remain unless there is a government order against them.
“We have been asked to keep these camps going till there is a demand.
Even if the slots are not full, there are people who are still coming and the centres need to be operational for them,” said Dr Neeraj Tyagi, the Noida immunisation officer.
In Ghaziabad, officials said there was a strict order to vaccinate only those who were eligible.
An analysis of recipients at two camps showed that 40-45 people are being vaccinated daily at DPSG on Meerut Road and about 70 at Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan in Indirapuram.
The target of each centre is 100.
The response at the booths for women is far better.
About 70 beneficiaries are turning up at ITS Muradnagar on an average, while on a few occasions, the District Women Hospital saw more than the target of 100 recipients.
The special booth for auto and commercial vehicle drivers have been closed down after a week.
Around 400 beneficiaries were vaccinated there.
For street vendors, traders and hawkers, a camp has been set up at the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation office in Navyug Market.
According to the CoWin portal, over 5,500 people have been vaccinated there.
Covaxin shortage Covaxin doses are in short supply again.
Both Noida and Ghaziabad have not been giving slots for the first dose of Covaxin for the past three days, rationing it for the second shot only.
Officials said they were expecting more doses to come from the Centre by Saturday.
Residents, too, said they have been unable to book Covaxin slots since Monday, and that there was no slot available till Sunday.
““We tried to book Covaxin for the first dose online, but nothing showed up.
There was no Covaxin slot available for the entire week,” said Amit Gupta, a resident of Sector 77.