Online booking for vaccination slots low in extended city zones

According to a Corporation source, vaccination slots are completely booked in zones like Ambattur, Adyar and other core city zones, while the number is very low in zones like Manali and Tiruvottiyur. On Wednesday, when the civic body allocated more than 7,000 doses for people registering online, more than 4,000 slots were booked.

In zones like Ambattur, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and others, around 500 slots were booked online. On the day, each of the 15 zones was allocated 510 online slots. On the other hand, only 38 slots were booked in Manali and 40 in Tiruvottiyur. Manali and Tiruvottiyur are located in the north region of the Corporation and both are extended zones. One of the three centres in Manali, where 170 doses were allocated on the day, only nine slots were booked online.

When asked reason, a Chennai Corporation official said awareness about online registration is lower in those zones while most people in the core city zones are well aware of the online slot booking. “We are trying to create awareness about the online booking as the system can help in avoiding waiting at the vaccination camps.

We are also providing the details related to the location of the vaccination camps and number of doses available at the camps the next day,” he added. When the civic body first introduced the online slot booking system, there were confusions at the vaccination camps as persons waiting in walk-in queue would pick fights with staff for letting the persons who had booked slots.

“Now we are maintaining two separate queues at the camps and residents are aware of online booking system. The system is functioning smoothly,” he explained. As per the data, the civic body has administered 27.83 lakh doses (both first and second) as on Thursday.