Weekly vax count drops 65% in Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

Naina Mishra

Chandigarh, May 17

The vaccine uptake has again slowed down in the city registering a decline of over 65 per cent in the inoculation of weekly doses.

As many as 23,439 doses were administered from April 30 to May 6, which declined to 8,547 doses in the following week (May 7 – May 13). This is the lowest vaccination figure in the past six weeks.

A majority of the eligible recipients for the Covid-19 vaccine belong to 18 years and above age group for the booster dose, but there have not been many takers for it. The remaining beneficiaries are teenagers in the age group of 12 to 18 years, who are to get their first or second dose. Around 30 per cent of children aged from 12 to 14 years are awaiting their covid-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, private hospitals say that there was a lack of eagerness for the booster shot among the public.

Dr Neeraj Kumar from Chaitanya Hospital, Sector 44, said, “The response to the booster dose had picked up pace when the cases had started rising, but after seeing no bigger surge in cases, people, who are yet to take a booster dose, have again become complacent. The footfall during the weekdays remains between 20-30 beneficiaries and on the weekends, it increases to 50-60 beneficiaries.”

Out of the targeted 8,43,000 beneficiaries now eligible for the booster shot, only 44,579 have taken it. This translates to barely 5 per cent of the whole population.

Dr RS Bedi from Bedi Hospital, Sector 33, said, “The pace is steady since the beginning of the drive. On an average, not more than 30-40 people take a booster dose in a day. People are not very enthusiastic about the booster shot.”

Even health care workers and frontline workers have not shown much enthusiasm towards the booster shot and not more than 25 per cent of them have taken the third dose in the city.

The paid booster dose was thrown open to all adults at private hospitals across the country on April 10. Private vaccination centres can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charge over and above the cost of the vaccine.

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