Heavy rush at vaccination centres in Ernakulam

Vaccine availability low in the district, say officials; only 27 centres to function today

Vaccination centres in Ernakulam saw large crowds on Friday, when the drive resumed after a two-day break. The Ernakulam General Hospital witnessed crowding on Friday, with people queueing up from early in the morning with little physical distancing. A polling official who was at the General Hospital from 5.30 a.m. for his second dose of the Covishield vaccine said more people began to line up around 7.30 a.m., and that the crowd swelled by 9 a.m., when people began to arrive hoping that they would be able to walk in for the second dose. “There was initially no proper security system to issue tokens, but by around 9 a.m. tokens were finally being given, and we were told that around 200 people would get the shot. But the number of people who arrived was much higher, and physical distancing was entirely absent,” he said. “I had attempted to book a slot on the COWIN portal, but only one faraway centre was available with around 40 doses pending. I decided to take my chance and line up at the General Hospital,” the official added.