[m8002?]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Two new recommendations from the government panel NTAGI - Are these genuine or triggered by the shortage for shots all over the country?

I guess its a mix of both. My colleagues in Canada said, it was always 3 months for them between the two shots. Those who got their first shot in May are given dates in Aug for 2nd shot. They made a conscious decision to vaccinate a lot with the first dose before starting the second.

In India, I expected them to make it 8-12 weeks.

[tilt]

I do not know if I am doing something wrong, but when I go to the cowin site (for my second dose Covishield), it only shows the PHCs (all booked or NA of course), but the list never shows a single private or paid facility at all. I mean, those are not even on the list.

I know for fact that Manipal hospitals is a facility; and it does not appear at all in the list. Narayana Hridayalaya is a facility, but does not appear at all. I am sure there are other examples.

Cheers

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by tilt

I do not know if I am doing something wrong, but when I go to the cowin site (for my second dose Covishield), it only shows the PHCs (all booked or NA of course), but the list never shows a single private or paid facility at all. I mean, those are not even on the list.

I know for fact that Manipal hospitals is a facility; and it does not appear at all in the list. Narayana Hridayalaya is a facility, but does not appear at all. I am sure there are other examples.

Cheers

Did you check under the option BBMP under District? That's where most of the paid ones appear.

KK

[batman]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

If you don't mind going for approx. 15 kms, there are 36 slots available in Gleneagles Global hospital, Perumbakkam for 45+ category, however it is paid, as I type this post now.

Thanks jpcoolguy. But before I checked in all the slots were taken up.

Again when I checked COWIN site today morning, slot was available in Madhuranthagam GH but when I tried to fix appointment, it was giving some error asking to fix the appointment in some future date. So I decided to drive down to RGGGH Chennai. Started at 9:45AM; On the way, I checked at Kelambakkam PHC which was crowded and people were talking about tokens. Knowing that it will take time even if Covaxin was available, I drove down to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and got my 2nd dose of Covaxin and returned back to home by 12:30 PM driving around 95Kms in total.

There was hardly any crowd today also. Maximum time spent there was hardly 30 minutes including waiting time. COVISHIELD was primarily offered for those came for the 1st Dose vaccination and COVAXIN was given only for those who came for their 2nd dose.

Police were checking at 2 or 3 places and I was asked to stop only at one place near Marina but was let go after showing the vaccination slip / card.

No signals were operating and there was sparse traffic; Toll plaza in OMR was not operating and was given a free go.

[kozhissery]

I took my first dose of CoVaxin on April 5 at Govt Primary Health Center and it was quite easy without any crowd.
After first dose:
1. I had pain in the area of vaccine for about 3 days (for first 24 hours it was very evident but after that only while touching the area)
2. Felt very sleepy at odd times and after a short nap of 15 minutes was back to normal

Took the 2nd dose today at a different place. Did try it last weekend as spot registration but failed and was asked to take online or come early in the morning to take the token (150 per day at the nearest Covaxin center). Upon inquiry at the gates got to know that people tend to come as early as 4AM (may be exaggeration) for the token. So tried online for 2 days and was successful yesterday in getting the lot for Monday but at a different hospital.
The vaccine center was too crowded for my liking (CoVaxin has only 3 centers in Trivandrum where as Covishield has many, I think it is 7:3 ratio). I had to slither between the crowd to reach the entrance and show the registration number to the security person who took the Aadhar card and asked to wait outside which I did oblige and stayed quite far from the crowd. In about 10 minutes my name was called and then on the work was smooth except that the crowd was unmanageable and were arguing with the guards/person in charge and with everybody except the nurse/and other lab in charge who were actually attending the job (as they were well inside the lab).
Got the jab in another 15 minutes. only one nurse was there - I felt awe at her patience and could see checking each and every dosage, disposal of syringe. Only one bottle is taken from the Ice box/cool box, administers the vaccine and then places the empty bottle in a specific box [I could not count how many doses are present in one bottle, more than 5 for sure] - may be for auditing it is placed in a different box - may god bless her.

After that was asked to go to different room, where I had to give me name and then asked to wait for half-an-hour. Exactly after 30 minutes, called my name and asked if I did feel anything awkward except for pain in the area, gave me 4 tabs of paracetamol to take one in the night then after 8 hours.
In short the process is perfect but it is our behavior which causes all these mayhem.

2 days gone, felt lethargic for first 24 hours and now only bit of soreness at the site of vaccine.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Any clue about the Russian Vaccine "Sputnik" which was recently received in India.

Not hearing anything about it, nor has the vaccination process started.

Dr. Reddys !!!

This vaccine seems stuck between a rock and a hard place. With central govt putting its hands up, state govts are already floating global tenders for vaccines themselves. WHO approved ones will probably get preference and Sputnik isn't being used much yet anywhere in the developed world so that's a separate concern regarding the data itself.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Two new recommendations from the government panel NTAGI - Are these genuine or triggered by the shortage for shots all over the country?

I was wondering the same yesterday when I heard the news. A bit of googling helped locate this

"Data from the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial showed maximum efficacy when the interval was extended to ≥12 weeks, with efficacy at <6 weeks between doses of 55.1% (95% CI: 33.0 to 69.9%) and efficacy at ≥12 weeks of 81.3% (60.3 to 91.2%)"

"The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial demonstrated optimal efficacy when the interval between the first and second doses was ≥12 weeks"

"Data and exploratory modeling from the AstraZeneca clinical trial publication indicated that the protection from one dose did not wane up to 90 days from vaccination"

source

Originally Posted by m8002?

I guess its a mix of both. My colleagues in Canada said, it was always 3 months for them between the two shots. Those who got their first shot in May are given dates in Aug for 2nd shot.

Thank you for sharing this!

Edit: The above Canadian govt link also states that UK AstraZenca vaccine does were given with a gap of ~12 weeks duration. Can anyone from UK (or with contacts in UK) confirm this? Seems to be very reassuring information - given the vaccine shortage, I'd be more than happy to delay the second dosage till supplies become more mainstream (hopefully) by July.

[batman]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Beneficiary Ref ID is different and specific to the vaccination process.

UHID is the byproduct of/starting point for NDHM. This is a one time, permanent ID that will remain valid throughout the nation.

Since yours is vacant, it would be prudent to refer to the certificates from other states as well as paid vs free centres in the same state (before drawing a conclusion). It could also be specific to a particular district - with officials trying to meet their registration targets .

Would appreciate other Bhpians to check their certificates and update here.

My 1st dose vaccination certificate downloaded on the day of administering (mid April) does not have any row or mention of UHID. The 1st dose Vac. certificate downloaded on the day I noticed the post on UHID had a row for UHID but it was blank. The vaccination certificate downloaded after my 2nd dose today, has a UHID with number on it.

I checked with my brother who completed his vaccination in end April, does not have a UHID number generated even in the certificate downloaded today.

[Sherlocked]

Its official now. 12 to 16 week gap for Covishield doses.

[mtnrajdeep]

Once the Goverment announced the dates for 18+ category vaccinations, I was eagerly waiting for vaccination slots to be opened for the 18+ group starting May 1st. Once I realised that the slots were getting filled extremely fast on the first day in cowin website, I was actively looking for ways to get notifications on open slots. During my search, I stumbled upon Berty Thomas' twitter channel. He had just created these Telegram channels for each of the cities - Bangalore being one of them. I joined the channel and started getting the alerts. There were only 350+ people in the channel when I joined it on May 2nd. By May 3rd, there were about 650+ people in the channel. As of today, there are 63k+ members!

On May 3rd, I was working when this notification suddenly popped up - Apollo had opened 1500 slots starting May 4th to May 8th (300 per day). I quickly logged in to Cowin and by the time I searched for the hospital, the slots per day were down from 300 to 250 or lower. I quickly blocked 2 slots for me and my spouse for May 7th. I was really sceptical about getting the vaccine due to the various shortages being posted even at that time. d3mon's feedback on his vaccination experience helped me understand what to expect at the hospital.

On May 7th, I reached the hospital by 7:40 AM, hoping to be in the beginning of the queue for the tokens. Alas, that was not to be the case. There were already 40 people queued up! Token distribution started at 8:15 and our token was 33. We had a long wait ahead. Around 9, there was a consent form distribution which resulted in a bit of crowding as everyone wanted to understand what this was - avoidable but we somehow managed.

9:15 AM: the first batch of 1-20 was called.
9:40 AM: Our batch, 21-40 was called.

Once inside the waiting area, each of us were called as per the token numbers, appointments, IDs verified in cowin and then payment was done. There were a few people who tried to hoodwink the receptionist by showing IDs and cowin website availability snapshot but they were asked to leave as they didnt have an appointment in Cowin. After payment, we were asked to go to a vaccination room where the payment receipt was verified and we were vaccinated using the pre-filled syringes. We then had to collect our partial vaccination certificates and were asked to wait for 15 minutes outside or in our vehicles. This entire process took about 25 minutes, including the wait time. We just waited for 5 minutes in our car and started our way back home.

Towards evening, we started having side-effects of bodyaches, 101F fever and headache which lasted about 36 hours.

Based on my experience, a friend decided to go for the vaccination in the afternoon next day, instead of his 9 AM slot. He reached the hospital by 3 PM to take the token, he was allowed in at 3:05 PM for the appointment validation and payment. He was out of the hospital after vaccination by 3:25 PM!

[Ragul]

Makes sense to vaccinate more people with single dose for widespread immunity with low-risk for serious complications. But why is the interval for Covaxin the same?I think it can safely be made 10 weeks with 12 weeks being the upper limit before the antibodies start to disappear from the body.

[AK79]

Just managed to get a slot for the 17th at Apollo Hospital, Modern School, Sector 7 Vashi. However, I can't find any Apollo Hospital at sector 7 Vashi on Google Maps, just Modern School. Is it just a camp set up by Apollo Hospital in the Modern School premises? Does anybody have any experience of this venue for vaccination?

[Emvi]

My in-laws residing in Bangalore had their second dose of covishield vaccination today morning at Gottigere Primary Health Centre. They had walk-in registration. I was informed, they reached the centre at around 7.45 am. With around 80 people in the queue and their token number being 36, they were able to exit the centre at around 12.45 pm after get vaccinated. The entire procedure was hassle free.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Got this as a Whatsapp group forward and a few people on the group tried it and it works:

9013151515 - save this number in your phone and go to whatsapp using the same number..enter your pincode then submit...you will come to know the current vaccination slots
It's really very useful it's for all over India

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Got this as a Whatsapp group forward and a few people on the group tried it and it works:

The number mentioned is indeed the Official Business Account of the MyGov Corona Help desk.

One has to send a WhatsApp message mentioning the Pin code and it will get back with slot information. Problem is that it is not automated; you will have to probe every time for an answer.

And as things stand today, the most frequent reply that comes back is

No slots available for booking at any vaccination centre for the selected pincode

Have had this number saved for a while now. The result is this:

(Please click on the picture for better clarity)