Refused Booster Dose, Angry Residents Lock Up COVID Vaccine Centre In Odisha’s Balasore

Balasore: Angry residents, who had queued up for hours since morning, locked up the COVID-19 vaccination centre at the Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) in Sunhat in Odisha’s Balasore district on Saturday when they were told that the booster dose cannot be administered to them.

Hundreds of people had queued up at the centre since morning for the COVID booster dose. Most of them had not registered themselves online. They were later told that only those who had booked slots online would be vaccinated.

According to a report, the vaccination centre was also short of booster doses.

“I came to the centre yesterday but had to go back as the stock of booster doses had been used up. I came to the centre again today at 5 am along with hundreds of others. After a long wait we were told that booster doses would be given to online beneficiaries only,” a local resident was quoted as saying by a news portal.

“Yesterday’s rule of offline registration for booster doses changed in the evening. Besides, the number of people outnumbered the number of doses available. By 9.30 am, the doses meant for offline beneficiaries were exhausted,” the Sunhat medical officer was quoted by the news portal as saying.

Angry over the mismanagement, residents then locked up the vaccination centre.