Sans adequate manpower and exclusive centres, online registrations turn useless

Nazir Ahamed, a resident tweeted that he was denied Covishield shot at the time slot that he booked.  “I reached Chennai Corporation Higher Secondary  School,  Ayanavaram,  at  11  am,  my designated time slot. But the officials said the Covishield quota  was  over  and  I  have  to  come  back at 8 am the next day. Now I am forced to go for paid vaccination,” he alleged.

When asked, a Corporation official said that there are several practical  difficulties  at  the  vaccination  centres  in  implementing  the online registration system. “As  of  now,  each  vaccination  centre has only two vaccinators each  for  Covishield  and  Covax-in. We have to allow walk-in vaccination and online vaccines at the  same  time.

When  we  allow  persons  who  have  booked  time  slots by skipping the queue, others waiting in queue pick fights. We  have  to  explain  this  every  time,”  a  staff  at  a  vaccination  centre said.The  staff  added  that  the  civic  body should appoint more vaccinators. “Otherwise, the head office should open exclusive vaccination  camps  for  online  registrations so that confusions could be avoided,” he said.

Presently,  the  civic  body  allows  online  booking  for  Covish-ield and allocates a certain number of doses for the persons com-ing    with    online    registration.    However,  staff  at  the  vaccination  centres  are  administering  the  quota  to  walk-in  residents  due to crowding.