Soma Das, 52, and husband Santanu Das, 59, got their first dose of Covid vaccine at 2.20pm on Wednesday, after standing in a queue outside a Calcutta Municipal Corporation clinic in Kasba since 4am.
There were hundreds like them who had joined the queue outside the civic clinic on P Majumdar Road in Kasba, in Ward 107, before sunrise. When Sandip Roy, 60, arrived at 4.45am, there were around 80 people in front of him.
Many elderly people were seen desperately seeking a shade to avoid the scorching sun. A group of such elderly people jostled under the shade of a sweet shop, forced to violate the protocol of safe distancing.
Others, who were less lucky, stood under the sun, protecting themselves with umbrellas and caps.
The uncertainty over the supply of Covid vaccines has led to a situation where officials of civic clinics are no longer in a position to tell potential recipients when the jabs will be administered, something they used to do in the early days of Covid vaccination.
“We were getting a steady supply at that time, but no longer. If we are not sure how many people we can vaccinate on a given day, how can we assign assured slots to potential recipients? We do not want to give a specific date and time to someone and then tell him or her that doses are not available,” said a CMC official
As the clinics are not allocating specific slots, potential recipients, many of them elderly, have no option but to queue up since 4am or even before.
“When we came here at 4am on Wednesday, we were 43rd and 44th in the queue. A man was noting down the names,” said Santanu.
The husband and wife, residents of Kasba’s Kayasthapara, took turns to stand in the queue. Santanu went back home around 5.30am and returned an hour later. Wife Soma then went home to prepare breakfast for the family. She rejoined the queue at 8.30am.
“Neither of us left after 8.30,” Santanu said. “I had tried to get the jab at a few private hospitals but there, too, people were queuing up since 6am. Since this clinic is close to my house, my wife and I decided to stand in the queue here,” said Santanu.
Sandip Roy had visited the clinic last week but there were 276 people ahead of him. It was not clear whether all of them would get the jab.
“Those who were in the queue told me that I had almost no chance of getting the shot that day. So I had to go back,” he said.
When Metro visited the clinic on Wednesday morning, an official was heard telling a person they were not in a position to say how many they would be able to vaccinate.
“We will get to know only when we receive the vials. Please stand in the queue. If we have enough doses, you may get the shot today. Else, you have to try your luck another day,” the official said.
An official of the CMC told Metro that the clinic had been receiving between 20 and 30 vials daily for a week. Each vial has around 10 doses.
“Earlier, we were going door to door and handing over tokens to eligible people. The tokens had a serial number and the date and time when the person has to turn up at the clinic for the jab. We had a fair idea how many people could be vaccinated on a given day. But we are no longer so sure because of the uncertainty over the supply of doses. Also, we have to keep aside some doses in anticipation that a few people would turn up for their second dose,” the CMC official said.
A notice outside the clinic’s gate said tokens to get vaccinated would be distributed from 9am every day on a first-come-first-served-basis. But many of those in the queue said they would not have received the jab had they turned up as late as 9am.
