Delhi: Booster is secret of their energy: Drive gains pace after slow start

New Delhi: At a government school in Greater Kailash I in south Delhi, there were children and senior citizens queued up on Monday. The school is a vaccination centre giving teens their first jab and the third, or booster, shot to the elderly. The youngsters’ queue was initially longer than that of the 60+ group, though by noon, the latter was doing quite okay. Elsewhere across the city too, the Covid vaccine booster dose drive for frontline workers and senior citizens started slowly before picking up pace later in the day.

Ashok Chopra, 77, lives in S Block in GK-I and walked to the vaccination centre with his son. Chopra declared it was important to get some protection from Covid-19, especially since he had asthma as well. Asha Gupta, 70, at the same centre, added, “One does feel safer now. Touchwood, I haven’t been ill so far.”

TOI spoke to several people in their 70s who, grateful they hadn’t been infected till date, desired to keep it that way. At Maulana Azad Medical College too, both children and the elderly were present on Monday. J K Sharma, 71, of east Delhi was there with his 66-year-old wife, Rashmi. The septuagenarian, who worked as a tourist guide for years, has a cardiac condition and is grateful to have kept the coronavirus at bay so far — despite their younger son and daughter-in-law testing positive during the second wave. The couple believe it is important to be vaccinated if the virus is to be beaten.

The maximum number of people who turned up at the MAMC centre were police personnel, most of whom said that the earlier doses of vaccine they received had in some way or the other protected them. Assistant sub-inspector Praveen Kumar, 44, posted in the Crime Branch, got his booster shot and reiterated, “The vaccine does have benefits. During the Covid wave, people in our circles who did not take the vaccine tested positive, but most of us have not suffered much despite being infected.”

At Shahpur Jat in south Delhi, a government school listed as an inoculation centre actually had its gate closed, causing much confusion and ire among those who had reached the site.

Meanwhile, the private hospitals also saw a decent turnout of people who needed to get the booster shot. At Manipal Hospital in Dwarka, 80 people were administered their third shot of the vaccine. Another centre that had to manage a rush of people was Moolchand Hospital, where a drive-through facility has been set up. The senior citizens who went there obviously preferred the comparable safety of being within their own space, the bonus being they did not have to walk around.

Om Prakash Sethi, 72, his wife, Sunita, 68, and his elder brother, Ravinder Sethi,77, of Lajpat Nagar were seated in the car and patiently awaiting their turn at Moolchand. “I got infected with Covid twice and had to be hospitalised both times, but people in my family, including my wife who was my immediate contact, managed to remain safe,” said Om Prakash. “The vaccine does seem to help the body in some way or the other.” The elderly man, however, had a grouse. He pointed out that he had received paid Rs 250 to get his first two doses. On Monday, he said, he was charged Rs 1,800. “I think it is important for the government to put a cap on the vaccine price and so attract more and more senior citizens to come and get the booster shot,” he said.

Sarvapriya Vihar resident Poonam Dutt, 70, too was lined up at the drive-through to get her third shot. An arthritis and asthma sufferer, she intoned, “It is better to be safe than sorry.”