People coming from outside the city for vaccines rely on the information given on the civic agency's site and have to suffer because of clash of timings
People coming from outside the city for vaccines rely on the information given on the civic agency's site and have to suffer because of clash of timings
Rakesh Pundir, 34, came all the way from Dehradun to Delhi to get the yellow fever vaccine as he will soon be going to South Africa. Just like everyone, he had also searched on the Internet about vaccination centres in the city and their timings. Sadly, what he saw was not what he got when he reached one of the centres in the city.
Vaccine woes:u00a0Yellow fever vaccination centre at Dr Ram Manohar
Lohia Hospital. Rakesh Pundir, Anuj Leekha and Haokip Helam outside
the centre in New Delhi on Wednesday. Pics/Subhash Barolia
Pundir went to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital to get the vaccine. The other centres in the city are International Inoculation centre, near Mandir Marg, Palam Airport and Delhi Public Health Laboratory, Alipur Road. Among all the centres, RML is the only centre which is centrally located. Due to its location, most of the people come here for the vaccination.
About time
Many people have been facing problems as the timings mentioned on the website are different from the actual timings. According to the timings available on the NDMC website, the vaccination is done on Wednesdays and Saturdays fromu00a0 9.30 am to 12, while the timings written on the RML board outside the hospital are Wednesday- 10am to 11.30 am and Saturday- 9.30 am to 11 am.
"I came here this Saturday, but couldn't get the vaccine, just because of this clash in timings. Wherever I checked about the timings, they were all different. As I could not get the vaccine that day, I had to stay here and wait till Wednesday. Finally I got the vaccination today," said Pundir. According to NDMC officials, the civic agency may have not updated the timings and confirmed the timings with the hospitals.
'Don't blame us'
"They don't check with the hospitals. Hospitals keep on updating their timings according to the availability. Once they have updated it on the website, they don't bother to have a look at them again," said one of the NDMC officials on condition of anonymity. Similarly, Haokip Helam, who came from Manipur, faced the same problem. "It's so chaotic here. Nothing is organised. I was doubtful whether I would get it today or not. They are giving the vaccine to only 100 people at one time. Correct information should be provided on the website," said Haokip.
Did you know?
The vaccine consists of a live, but attenuated, strain of the yellow fever virus called 17D. The 17D vaccine has been used commercially since the 1950s. The mechanisms of attenuation and immunogenicity for the 17D strain are not known. However, this vaccine is very safe, with few adverse reactions having been reported and millions of doses administered and highly effective with over 90% of vaccine0073 developing a measurable immune response after the first dose. Yellow fever vaccination certificate is issued for 10 years but becomes valid only after 10 days of vaccination.
The other side
Amit Prasad, official spokesperson, NDMC, said "I have to check with concerned department. If there are any such discrepancies, we will definitely take some action." Dr T S Sidhu, medical superintendent, RML, was not available for comment.
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