NEW DELHI: Day one of the vaccination drive for those in the 15-18 age group on Monday saw less turnout of teenagers. While the crowd at some vaccination centres was lukewarm where participants got their vaccinations done smoothly, other centres witnessed waiting for 20-45 minutes to get jabbed.
Northeast Delhi got the highest numbers of vaccinations done with 3,687 beneficiaries, while Northwest got the least number of teenagers, with 1,210 beneficiaries.
According to doctors deployed at a vaccination camp at MAMC, participation is expected to increase from Tuesday onwards. A total of 20,998 vaccinations were conducted in the age group of 15-18 on Monday.
According to the CoWin web portal, 21,006 children in the age group of 15-18 were vaccinated till 8pm.
The data said till 1.30 pm on Monday more than 26 lakh children had registered for the vaccination which began on the day.
A total of 159 centers in Delhi were selected for the programme where Covaxin was administered to the teenagers.
Dr Shikha, one of the medical officers deployed at EDMC School, Mayur Vihar Phase-1, Pocket 4, said, “We had 200 slots for today and all were booked. There were very few who came for walk-in registrations. The school has made special arrangements for the waiting area and we are not making anyone stand in queue apart from a slot of 20 students at a time.”
The teenagers came to centres along with guardians or friends. They were required to produce an ID proof and a school ID card to get the Covid vaccine in Delhi.
However, many who came without guardians were not given the vaccine and were asked to come with an acquaintance.
Takshak Sharma, a 17-year-old Delhi University student, could not receive his shot at AIIMS as he came alone. A resident of Rohtak, Takshak studies in Delhi and has a sister in Noida.
“I will bring her tomorrow to get my vaccine done,” he said.
According to the principal of the Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Gokalpuri, Charan Singh, “On the first day, only our own school students have come to get the vaccination done.”
The school is a designated vaccination centre.
A group of students at the school was seen cheering after they had got their first dose of vaccination. Eighteen-year-old Naitik Verma said that things became easier for him as he got vaccinated at his school.
“I believe this is a wonderful decision of the government to get children also vaccinated at the designated centers because it would have been so difficult for our parents to get us vaccinated after spending so much money in hospitals,” he said.
Student at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya School, Jyotishna, 15, of Khichripur had to wait for an hour before she could get her inoculated.
“I was excited to get jabbed since the government had announced. We had to wait for an hour for our turn but it hardly took two minutes to sit there and get vaccinated. Now I can convince others including adults who are yet to get vaccinated. This is my only hope, I believe, for survival in the coming days.”
Sitaram Bazar resident Chirag Arora, 15, visited Maulana Maulana Azad Institute Of Dental Sciences and got the vaccination after his school told all the students to get it on priority.
“My school told us that it has to be done so I came for the vaccination. I have come along with a friend who is also getting vaccinated today. Now, I will also bring other friends of mine to get the same,” he said.
