Slots for 8 days booked in one hour of opening

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 13

In just an hour, 8,000 slots for Covid vaccination in the age group of 18-45 years were booked in the city today.

The vaccination booking slots for the 18 plus beneficiaries opened at 2:55 pm in the city today. In just 15 minutes, the CoWIN portal showed all slots at five vaccination sites booked. The remaining two centres, including the PGI, opened their slots late but these too were taken up within an hour of the first booking made under the 18-45 age group.

Vaccination centres for 18-45 age group

• Nehru Hospital Extension (PGI)
• GMSH auditorium
• Government Model School, Mani Majra
• Govt Model School-45
• Health and Wellness Centre, Maloya
• Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, PU
• Block B of the GMCH-32

There will be no vaccination drive on Sunday. A total of 8,000 slots were booked for eight days (May 14 to May 22, excluding Sunday)

Amandeep Kaur Kang, Director, Health Services, UT, said, “Now, there is no slot available on the CoWIN portal till May 22 for this age group. There are seven exclusive centres for vaccination. Around 1,000 appointment slots per day were opened on the portal. From tomorrow onwards, people can book their slots at 10 am every day for vaccination on May 23 onwards.”

Dr Kang added, “We have got only 33,000 doses and till we get confirmation on further supply, we cannot escalate the drive. However, we have enough doses for those above 45 years. There are about 55,000 doses for this group.”

The vaccination for 18 to 45 years age group is purely based on online appointment on CoWIN portal and there is no on-the-spot allocation.

The vaccination for the new age group will start at 9 am tomorrow.

The vaccination will be available at seven centres — Nehru Hospital Extension (PGI), the GMSH auditorium, Government Model School, Mani Majra, Government Model School-45, Health and Wellness Centre, Maloya, Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences & Hospital, PU, and Block B of the GMCH-32.