Senior citizens line up for shot at Delhi centres amid CoWIN glitches

PM Modi sets ball rolling for third phase of vaccination, joining the long list of global leaders who have taken the jab

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the ball rolling for the third phase of the vaccination, joining the long list of global leaders who have taken the jab, senior citizens started lining up at the hospitals from early morning. Till 1 PM, 1 million citizens had registered on the Co-WIN portal, according to health ministry data.
 

The prime minister visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, to receive the homegrown Covaxin jab by Bharat Biotech. "(It is) remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked in quick time to strengthen the fight against Covid-19. I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine. Together, let us make India Covid free!" he tweeted shortly after.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan announced that he would take the shot tomorrow.
 

With the CoWIN portal opening registration from 9 AM, hospitals in Delhi started the vaccination drive from 12 PM.
 

Government hospitals such as AIIMS saw a low turnout in the afternoon. There seemed to be a larger number of health care workers taking the second dose of the Covaxin shot as compared to the general public till around 2 pm. Halls were empty and the number of people seated in the waiting area sparse in the new OPD block, where the vaccination process was taking place. There was also some delay as many health care workers, who had arrived earlier, waited for their turn in the waiting area outside.

Minister of State Jitendra Singh also visited the hospital to receive the jab.
 

At the adjacent Safadarjung Hospital, inoculation of the general public was slated to start at 12 pm. Both the vaccination and testing process were happening within the same building.
 

Delhi’s Max hospital started receiving both walk-ins and pre-registered beneficiaries from 9 AM.
 

“The CoWIN system is only giving forenoon and afternoon slots and no specific time band...This has to be sorted to avoid crowding,” Dr Sahar Qureshi, medical superintendent, Max smart super specialty hospital said.
 

Max wasn’t the only hospital that faced issues with the portal. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) near Connaught Place, New Delhi, also faced glitches with the display of timing after registration, which is why they were met with a number of walk-in appointments.
 

Most Delhi hospitals kept sessions till 3 PM for pre-registered persons and thereafter for another 90 minutes was reserved for walk-ins. At Max, more than 300 people had already turned up by 2:30 PM. This was in stark contrast to RML, where only 31 people had turned up to receive the jab, according to data available at 2:30 pm.
 

A larger number of people thus meant a longer waiting time.
 

“We have to wait for about two hours to get our turn. A token has been given to us and we are waiting to be called,” 67-year-old Sneh Bansal, a resident of Shalimar Bagh.
 

New Delhi’s private Moolchand hospital also saw a massive turnout. The hospital expects to administer over 200 doses of the vaccine on Day 1 of the second phase, according to Dr Madhu Handa, medical director at the hospital.
 

Doctors also complained of Co-WIN slowing down the process of registration as uploading of the data took a long time.
 

Sanjeev Ratan, a Delhi-based professional working in the financial sector, said: “I had booked an appointment in the morning but didn’t receive any message from the portal, so I walked in at RML and took the jab.”
 

Moolchand also faced some glitches because of which the vaccination process was slightly delayed in the morning.
 

One person was being allowed to register up to four beneficiaries. Several people reported issues such as non-delivery of the one-time password, cancellation of appointments even as the health ministry clarified that Co-WIN is not an app for the general public but has to be accessed through the website www.cowin.gov.in or other platforms such as Arogya Setu.
 

Several clinics and labs which were listed as vaccination centres by the government were not providing any jabs. Two such facilities in south Delhi saw patients turning up in the morning enquiring about the vaccine. “We are trying to clarify with the government that we are not a Covid vaccination centre,” a staff at one of the eye clinics in south Delhi said.