People from Delhi-NCR Travelling 200 km to Agra, Mainly for 2nd COVID Jab

New Delhi: People in the 18-44 age group from the Delhi-NCR region are travelling as far as to Agra in Uttar Pradesh to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Moolchand Medcity, Agra, started vaccinating people in the 18-44 age group four days ago. Of the 450 people inoculated so far, 40% beneficiaries came from places like Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Meerut, Etawah and Mathura.

The shortest distance between Agra and Delhi is 224 kilometres. Meerut is 232 km away from Agra.

 “After a ferocious second wave of COVID-19, people have realised the importance of getting vaccinated. They are even travelling 250 km to get the jabs,” Vibhu Talwar, medical director, Moolchand Medcity, Agra told PTI.

 “People have been coming from Mainpuri, Aligarh, Etawah, Mathura, Delhi, Meerut, Gurgaon, Noida, among other places, to get vaccinated. It is a good sign that people are travelling 250 km to get inoculated against COVID-19… that they are taking it seriously,” he said.

Talwar said around 40 to 50% of those who have been vaccinated at the hospital so far are from outside Agra.

Preeti Dungriyal, 35, and her husband travelled from Noida to Agra on Monday to get their second doses of Covaxin.

 “We took our first dose of Covaxin on May 8 and were trying to book a slot for the second dose for the last three-four days, but did not find success,” she said.

 “Later, we found that slots were available in Agra, so we drove there. It was pretty convenient... What is more important is that we could get the jab in time,” Dungriyal said.

Pulkit Gupta, 32, from Rajouri Garden in west Delhi also travelled to Agra along with his wife to get the second dose of the vaccine.

"Slots in Delhi are getting filled fast. We could not get any slot. So, I started searching for available slots in nearby cities. Agra is just a few hours away... I felt that it was important to get fully vaccinated," he said while returning to Delhi.