Elderly return home without jab in Panchkula

Sanjay Bumbroo
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, March 2

The slow pace of vaccination irked senior citizens, some of whom could be seen returning home without getting the jab due to the intermittent closure of the CoWIN portal at the Civil Hospital here today.

Many senior citizens, who did not get the jab yesterday and had come to the hospital this morning, had to return home again without getting the vaccine as the portal closed in the afternoon.

Will fix portal issue, says Civil Surgeon

The Civil Surgeon, Dr Jasjit Kaur, said the CoWIN portal was slowing down at times due to a huge rush for registration for the vaccination. She said there was only one portal across the country and added that the issue would be resolved in the next few days.

A total of 11 centres had been set up in Panchkula district today and 581 persons, including 266 senior citizens and five aged 45 to 60 with comorbidities, were vaccinated.

No social distancing was maintained as a large number of people could be seen standing in long queues. Senior citizens said the Health Department should have made proper arrangements for seating of the elderly keeping in view the huge rush.

Rakesh Agarwal, a resident of Sector 12, said he, along with his family, had been visiting the hospital for the past two days, but had to return without getting the vaccine due to an issue with the CoWIN portal. He said he informed the Civil Surgeon as well as the Deputy Commissioner in this regard.

The Health Department had set a target of giving the jab to 1,100 persons. A total of 581 workers were vaccinated today of whom 238 were healthcare workers (HCWs). As many as 210 HCWs got the second dose, while 28 got the jab for the first time. Of the 72 frontline workers (FLWs), 50 got the first dose, while 22 got the second dose.

A total of 12,048 workers have been given the jab in the district so far. Of the 6,462 HCWs, 4,402 had been given the first dose, while 2,060 have got the second jab. Similarly, 5,586 FLWs have got the first dose of the vaccine.