Elderly people called, turned back without inoculation

ISLAMABAD: Scores of elderly people, invited by the government to get vaccinated for Covid-19, were turned back without being inoculated on the grounds that they did not fall in the age group that is being given the first jabs.

Left high and dry, they had no option but to go back to their homes disappointed.

Because of the huge crowds at the vaccination centres set up in the federal capital and Rawalpindi, there were reports of serious mismanagement. Chaos prevailed as no proper arrangements had been made to deal with such a large number of people invited for vaccination.

Those who visited the vaccination centres established at the medical facilities said the staff deployed there was insufficient to cope with the surging crowds. At some places, the vaccination drive had to be stopped at 1pm, leaving hundreds of elderly people in the lurch.

All the persons present at the centres had received text messages from the designated helpline 1166 to visit specific vaccination centres to get their first shot.

“I reached the Capital Hospital of Islamabad at 8:30am, the time I was allotted, which I had checked with the facility a day before,” an elderly lady, accompanied by her son, told this correspondent.

The health staff working at the centre asked the woman to give them her national identity card, which she did. Then, they entered its number in the computer connected to the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) and told her that her name had not been cleared because she was below 65 years of age.

She then went to a woman doctor serving at the facility, who said she could not do anything unless her name was approved by Nadra. Afterwards, the lady talked to the helpline where the person attending her call was at a loss to extend any assistance.

A number of people, who were under 65 but had received the text messages from the helpline to get vaccinated, had to leave the centres disheartened after not receiving the shot.

When contacted by The News, National Health Services and Regulations Ministry spokesman Sajid Shah was unable to explain why a large number of people had been sent text messages when they were below 65. He, however, admitted that many more people had been called for immunisation than the capacity of the centres on the premise that all of them would not turn up because of apprehensions and misgivings about the vaccine. He said contrary to expectations, the response was more than satisfactory.

The spokesman had no answer to the question why people under 65 had been called for inoculation on the first day when they were not eligible as per the government policy.

He said the situation would improve in the days ahead and said the situation would not be like Wednesday, the first day of the launch of the second phase of vaccination.

Sajid Shah said that the vaccination was administered to senior citizens in reverse order of their age, meaning that the oldest were administered the shots first. After those who had registered themselves and had received the text messages and were 65 years and above had been vaccinated, the group in the 60-65 age group would be given the jabs.