Covid vaccination in Noida: Many in 45+ age group with booked slots turned away

NOIDA: They had appointments and had turned up at the designated hour but many of those in the 45+ bracket queuing up for their second or first vaccine shots were sent back by inoculation centres on Monday.
At some centres, the scenes were chaotic with crowds gathering because vaccinations for the 18-44 group also began on Monday.
At many centres, those over the age of 44 were asked to leave the queue.And while the office of the chief medical officer in Gautam Budh Nagar claimed that only those without a registered slot were asked to go back, it was a different story on the ground.
Take Ramakant Mishra (77) and his wife Shyamla (66), for instance. An Amrapali Princely Estate resident, Ramakant had taken the first dose with his wife in the last week of March at Kailash hospital in Sector 27.
The couple finally managed to book a slot for Monday after trying for a week on the Co-WIN portal.
“We got confirmation on Co-WIN for Monday morning. We reached the primary health centre in Prahlad colony, Barola, before 9am for our 9am-11am slot. But police chased us away around 9.45am. We were told only people in the 18-44 bracket will be given vaccines and doses are not available for others,” said Mishra.
The elderly had taken a risk of exposure. “We are not getting any slot for this week. We are clueless,” said Mishra.
Similarly, Abhishek Malviya, a resident of Sector 34, said, “My uncle stays in the same colony and is 64+. Worried about the rush, I took him and two of his friends, all over 60, to Child PGI on Monday. We were told no registration was required for second doses. But all senior citizens and those over 45 were turned away.”