NEW DELHI: It was Day One of the Covid vaccination for the elderly, but it seemed they could hardly wait. No vaccine hesitancy was evident as despite the window being open for only a few hours, the vaccination sites saw high enthusiasm, heavy rush and long queues.
The drive began across 303 centres in the capital on Monday, and by the end of the day 15,521 people were vaccinated, around 50% of the target. It included 5,176 people above 60 and 1,009 between 45 and 59 years with 20 specified co-morbid conditions. Only one adverse event was reported.
Elderly people and their family members came out in large numbers to get the vaccine shot on the first day. Lack of initial streamlining of the process led to some hiccups and there were heated exchanges at several places though the nodal medical officers assured that the overall process will improve in a couple of days.

Brij Bihari Lal Sharma (74), who turned up early in the morning at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, said: “As I am undergoing dental treatment, I have to visit a clinic every month. I have undergone more than 10 RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 in the past one year as a precautionary measure due to my regular visits to the clinic. I tested negative every time but I am relieved after taking the first jab of the vaccine on Monday.”
Other neighbouring NCR cities had much lower targets with Noida and Ghaziabad aiming to vaccinate only 300 people on the first day. Gurgaon vaccinated more than its target of 800 and Noida 319. Ghaziabad achieved 96% of its target. Snags in the registration process on the Co-Win portal slowed down enrolment at all three places.
But more than the numbers, it was the organic nature of the response that vaccination centres found heartening. Several session sites, especially those at private hospitals in Gurgaon, saw queues through the afternoon while constant enquiries from those who could not turn up kept the phone operators busy. A 64-year-old former Armyman who got vaccinated at Paras Hospital summed up the mood of optimism in an age-group that has been forced to largely remain confined to home. “I feel like I can go for a marathon,” said Col A Mishra (Retd).
While the vaccination drive at 136 private and 56 government hospitals in Delhi was scheduled to start at noon, many senior citizens had started arriving several hours before the scheduled launch. Glitches in the Co-Win portal during registration and verification of the self-registered individuals hit the numbers on the first day.
Despite waiting in long queues, many senior citizens could not get the shots because their credentials were not verified on the portal. “The registered healthcare workers were getting verified and inoculated, but it was challenging to verify self-registered beneficiaries,” said an official. Many of the self-registered citizens were vaccinated with manual verification while several had to go back disappointed because of the delays.
In West district, 937 senior citizens got the jab, highest among all the districts, followed by 809 in South East and 681 in East.
Initially, the server was down which delayed the start of the entire process. Many people were unaware that the Co-Win app is only for administrators and struggled to register themselves through it. Most of those registered using the Co-Win portal reported long delays in receiving OTPs. Many of those in the 45 to 59 age group were not clear about the co-morbid conditions, and during verification some of them turned out to be ineligible.
“A couple of senior citizens who walked in for inoculation could not get the OTP because the mobile number they were using was not registered with their Aadhaar card,” said a source at Lok Nayak Hospital. In some cases, the system showed the wrong age, leading to the verification failing. Many people reported that they were not getting slots after registering while some reported problems in Aadhaar linking and verification and captcha verification during registration.
Health minister Satyendar Jain said the vaccines are free of cost at all the central as well as Delhi government hospitals while the cost of vaccination at the private hospitals has been capped at Rs 250. Jain said that to ensure that the process is smooth and there is no crowding at the hospitals, 2-3 vaccination centres have been set up in each of the 192 hospitals. Delhi government’s largest hospital, Lok Nayak, has two vaccination centres.
“According to the updated voters list, over 12 lakh people in Delhi are above 60 years. Around 2-3 lakh Delhiites are between the age of 45 and 59 years with co-morbid conditions,” Jain said, adding that registration for the vaccination is simple and can be done through the Co-Win portal and people can easily choose the vaccination centre and time slot according to their convenience.
“We did above 770 shots at various centres on Day 1 despite some teething issues with the online portal and the drive commencing only by noon,” said Max Healthcare in a statement. Dr H S Chhabra, medical director and chief of Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, said the hospital was carrying out vaccinations with all precautions, including proper sanitisation, thermal check, social distancing and mask discipline