Covaxin seekers make beeline for Trichy camps

Covaxin seekers make beeline for Trichy camps

Deepak.Karthik@timesgroup.com

Trichy:  05.06.2021

The growing awareness and surge in demand for vaccine against Covid-19 saw people assembling at vaccination camps in Trichy as early as 6.30 am on Friday. Though the two venues in the city administered only Covaxin for 18-44 age category, there was a big rush evoking fears of vaccination camps turning into hotspots. Several people said the short wait time for the second dose of Covaxin compared to Covishield prompted them to get their jab at the earliest. After vaccinating 1,971 people in the city on Thursday and exhausting its Covishield stock, Trichy corporation had announced that only the first dose of Covaxin will be administered on Friday. Instead of organising the camps as usual at six locations, the civic body preferred to conduct the camps only at two places, Kalaiarangam and Thevar hall. The serpentine queues saw men who were already vaccinated too standing in queue for their spouse or family members so as to protect them from the crowd. People assembled at the centres early in the morning and took the jab after waiting for hours.

“My preference was Covaxin since the waiting period between two doses is only a month. Also, those who were vaccinated already and doctors opined that Covaxin has only mild side effects,” V Visodhan, 24, a resident of Puthur said. While those who have plans to go abroad prefer Covishield, locals and women were seen to be interested in Covaxin dose. The growing crowds saw the city police intervening to regulate them forcibly. Although only 1,307 people were vaccinated on Friday against 1,971 on Thursday, the lack of adequate vaccine stocks saw many youngsters returning disappointed. Youths who waited for over 3 hours demanded more vaccine stocks saying people are desperate to get vaccinated.