Officials believe late-night intimations have been adding to indecisiveness among healthcare workers already plagued by fear
A health worker gets vaccinated at KEM on Tuesday. Pic/Ashish Raje
Technical issues in the CoWIN app, developed by the central government, continued to create obstructions and led to a low turnout on Tuesday, the second day of the COVID-19 vaccination drive. Of the 4,000 messages generated through the app on Monday, 800 recepients’ names turned out to be repeated. Vaccination centres also faced issues in online registration and had to execute the process twice. Adding to the mix was the anxiety regarding the vaccine, which vaccination staffers said could have contributed to the low turnout.
ADVERTISEMENT
Of the of 3,200 people shortlisted, only 1,597 health workers turned up. Three people reported minor health issues.
Recipients and staff at the vaccination centre at KEM Hospital on Tuesday
On Tuesday, many of those who had taken the first dose were listed again for the drive. In some hospitals, names were repeated twice in the same list. However, authorities at vaccination centres claimed that it is still early and that they want to give the application time to start running smoothly. “Out of 4,000 names generated by the app, around 1,000 were duplicates. Even today, there are issues and we are trying to contact all beneficiaries,” said Dr Mangla Gomare, executive health officer, BMC.
While on the first day the vaccination centres operated manually, CoWIN’s glitches on Tuesday made the process immensely difficult. Technicians who know the app thoroughly have been tasked to help and have been going across the centres, spread all over the city, to fix problems. This delayed the drive throughout Tuesday.
Increasing workload
It took the vaccination staff five to 10 minutes to upload one beneficiary’s details. At KEM Hospital’s vaccination centre, 101 health workers had reported for the vaccine till 12.30 pm. One of those in charge of the vaccination centre told mid-day, “We received a list of around 350 recipients for five booths. The CoWIN app doesn’t have time slots so sometimes, many people come together. This creates issues in loading information on the app. We registered people’s information offline and loaded when the queue was over. This is increasing our workload.”
A health worker gets his shot. Pic/Ashish Raje
Dr Milind Nadkar, academic dean of KEM Hospital, told mid-day, “There may be some glitches, but the vaccination drive is going on smoothly. We are trying our best to manage the drive.”
While the turnout at various centres remained 50 to 55 per cent, authorities claimed that apart from the obvious reasons of reluctance and fear of adverse effects, people also might not have been able to make it owing to late last-minute calls, a laid-back attitude or the overall inefficiency of the application in reaching out to people and generating correct lists.
The medical superintendent at VN Desai Hospital, Prashant More, said, “We did not see a huge turnout so our ward office’s health officials are calling up beneficiaries and reminding them about the vaccination.”
Other doctors at peripheral hospitals felt that people might not be turning up thinking COVID cases have reduced and as such a vaccine is not necessary now. A doctor at Cooper hospital said duplication of names was a problem there.
Only 13 turn up at JJ hospital for shot
The vaccination centre at the state-run JJ Hospital was very quiet, as compared to KEM Hospital. Three medical students at the reception tried to register recipients details on CoWIN and took the consent form from a doctor who’d come to take the vaccine. Of the 100 beneficiaries expected to turn up for the Covaxin shot, only 13 turned up. Dr Prashant Howal, in charge of the vaccination centre, said, “Dean Ranjeet Mankeshawar instructed us to call the 100 beneficiaries again today. But many cited reasons such as medicines that they are taking for other diseases. Some women said they are lactating, some were out of town, etc.”
A doctor who came to get vaccinated told mid-day, “There is no difference between the two vaccines apart from the fact that Covaxin hasn’t completed the third stage trial. It is completely safe.” The doctor works at JJ hospital and received a call on Monday evening. He did not get a message from the CoWIN app.
Vaccination nos. on Day 2
. KEM hospital: 307
. Sion hospital: 110
. Cooper hospital: 229
. Nair hospital: 165
. VN Desai hospital: 59
. Ambedkar hospital (Kandivli): 236
. Rajawadi hospital: 285
. BKC jumbo COVID centre: 103
. Bhabha hospital: 90
. JJ hospital: 13
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
