Covid vaccine: City civic body rules out separate slot for recipients from private hospitals

Special time period for beneficiaries who have taken their first dose at the health centres would have enabled them to avoid long queues to get the second jab

A queue for Covid-19 vaccines at SSKM Hospital on Thursday.: Picture by Gautam Bose

Sanjay Mandal   |  TT  | Calcutta   |  14.05.21 : Many health clinics run by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation have said separate slots cannot be provided to the recipients of the second dose of Covid vaccines who have taken their first jabs at private hospitals.

An official of the civic body said on Thursday that they were fearing law and order problems if such recipients were given priority over residents of the respective areas, who are queuing up from very early in the morning for the jab.

"It will not be possible to provide separate time slots to these recipients. Most of the clinics are located in residential neighbourhoods and hundreds of people are queuing up for the vaccine. If a group is given preferential treatment, then there can be law and order problems," the official said.

Special slots for recipients who have taken their first dose at private hospitals would have enabled them to avoid long queues to get the second jab at a civic clinic.

Most private hospitals have suspended vaccination against Covid as they are unable to procure doses from the manufacturers. Till April end, the state government was allotting them doses, a system that came to an end when the Centre’s new vaccination policy took effect on May 1.

The state government has announced that private vaccination centres will be tagged to the nearest government-run facilities, which in Calcutta are mostly CMC clinics, for the second dose. 

The state government has circulated the list of centres to the private facilities and has also said that people can walk into any government-run centre for the jab.

The private hospitals have proposed that the state government use their facilities as extensions of its vaccination centres so that those who have taken their first dose at the private units could be administered the second jab on their premises without much hassle. The state is awaiting the 

Centre’s nod before accepting the proposal.

Many people have told private hospitals that they had returned from CMC clinics without taking the jab because of long queues. Many others on Thursday said they would wait for 12 to 16 weeks from the first dose for the second jab, as recommended by an expert panel of the Centre.

In Bengal, about four lakh people have taken the first dose at private facilities and are awaiting the second. Most have taken Covishield.

Peerless Hospital on Wednesday had sent its staff members to the CMC clinic of borough 12 in Mukundapur to find out whether those who have taken the first shot at the hospital could be given separate slots for the second.

"Our people were told by the CMC clinic authorities that the recipients would have to stand in the queue like others. No exclusive slots could be given,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

A Southern Avenue resident had gone to a nearby CMC clinic which is supposedly tagged to AMRI Hospitals Dhakuria. He was told that Thursday's quota was exhausted and he would have to come back on Friday morning and queue up like others.

Many people who had taken the first dose at the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences called up the hospital on Thursday and said they could not get the second dose at CMC clinics because of long queues.

"We have been getting mixed responses from beneficiaries about the government's initiative. A few have got the jab, whereas some have been deterred by long queues. A few senior citizens want someone from the hospital to escort them to the CMC clinic, while others want to wait till we get doses,” said R. Venkatesh , regional director, east, Narayana Health, of which the RN Tagore hospital is the flagship unit. 

The hospital has around 8,000 people awaiting the second dose.

Covid count

Bengal on Thursday recorded 20,839 new infections, 129 deaths and 19,181 recoveries. The number of active cases has risen to over 1.3 lakh. 

Of the 134 deaths, 39 were reported from Calcutta and 25 from North 24-Parganas.  While Calcutta recorded 3,924 new infections, North 24-Parganas reported 4,131.