Covid-19 vaccine liquid from vial to vaccinate at central railway hospital covid vaccination centre in new delhi on wedensday. PHOTO BY RAJESH MEHTA
New Delhi: Innumerable Delhiites in the 18-45 year age group complained of massive technical glitches while registering for Covid-19 vaccination on the government’s Co-Win portal and the Aarogya Setu mobile application. From May 1, vaccination is open for all citizens above the age of 18 years. This phase of the vaccination drive, however, might be delayed in the capital because the required doses of vaccines are yet to acquired, sources in Delhi government said.
The registration for the vaccination process for the newly eligible group began at 4pm on Wednesday, but was marred by glitches. Most people complained that they didn’t get an OTP (one-time password) and those who did, said that the portal was not allowing those older than 45 years old to register. Those who did manage to register said they faced problems uploading documents and then in scheduling the appointment. Registration and appointments are mandatory with walk-in not to be permitted.
Isha Banerji, 26, editor at a publishing house, said, “I opened the Co-Win website to register at 4pm sharp. It took me a while to even login because the website kept crashing frequently. Then, after spending more than 10 minutes to generate the elusive OTP, I couldn’t even input my gender and photo ID type on the form because the option to add details in those categories was missing and refreshing several times didn’t work either.”
On checking the dates for the entire month of May, it became clear to Banerji that none of the hospitals allowed booking for anyone below 45. “For the latter half of the month, there were no slots altogether. Why start registrations when the option to book slots is not even available? There are many people who don’t have access to technology or can’t handle it as well. How will they manage?” she asked.
Tanya Anthwal, a psychologist, had a similar experience. “We tried to register at 6pm, but the app showed no available slots for May 1 onwards. Also, it displayed the vaccination as being open for those aged only over 45 years,” said Anthwal.
Some people who tried to schedule an appointment for the vaccination on the Co-WIN portal on Wednesday said that many government centres in the capital where Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccine will be administered were not accepting appointments. Government sources, however, said that there were no problems in getting Covaxin for those slated to get their second jab.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on April 26 that Delhi government had approved the purchase of 1.3 crore vaccines. Sources said the vaccines are yet to arrive and the vaccination drive might not begin, at least on a large scale, on May 1.
“The only solution to the rapid rise in Covid case appears to be the vaccine. Delhi government has decided to administer the vaccine free of cost to all 18+ residents of Delhi,” Kejriwal had said on Monday. “It will be our effort to carry the inoculation drive swiftly and efficiently. Today we gave the go-ahead for the purchase of 1.34 crore vaccines for Delhi.”
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