Although the Centre has announced that precaution doses for adults (all above 18 years) will be made available only in private vaccination centres from April 10, the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) is sceptical about the demand for the third dose.
Going by past experience, wherein some hospitals suffered losses after vaccine stocks expired due to poor response, private hospital heads said they will wait and watch before procuring huge stocks.
“We do not know what the demand will be. Now that COVID has also subsided, we are not sure how many people will come forward to take the precaution dose. As of now, we have small stocks and will utilise that first. We will procure more only if the demand picks up,” said Prasanna H.M., PHANA president.
He said private hospitals would tread cautiously this time. “Previously, there was poor response to vaccination in private hospitals after the government announced free vaccination for all in their facilities. This time too people may want to wait for the government to provide free inoculation,” he said.
“Procurement will not be a problem as the manufacturers have enough stocks. We are hopeful of getting the supply when there is a need,” he said.
Arundathi Chandrashekar, State Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), said as of now precaution dose vaccination in government facilities will be open only for senior citizens, healthcare, and frontline workers. She said there is no problem in the precaution dose drive taking off as some hospitals have vaccine stocks. “They have exchanged their stocks nearing expiry with the government recently,” she said.
“The Centre has opened precaution doses for all adults following a demand from various States. We had also flagged the demand as many people wanting to travel abroad had approached us seeking a third dose,” she said.
Coverage nearly 50%
Meanwhile, nearly 50% of the targeted population due for a precaution dose in the State have been covered till April 7. The Centre had rolled out precaution dose administration for senior citizens, healthcare, and frontline workers across the country on January 10.
As of Thursday, the State had a target population of 28,67,642 (senior citizens, healthcare and frontline workers) who are due for the precaution dose. According to data from the CoWIN portal shared by the State Health Department, the coverage in 13 districts is above the State average of 49% as of Friday.
Belagavi tops
While the highest coverage is in Belagavi where 65% of the target population has been covered, the lowest is in Bagalkot that has 32% coverage. In Bengaluru Urban district, inclusive of BBMP, the coverage so far has been 53%. While Belagavi, Kolar and Gadag have a coverage of above 60%, Kodagu, Mandya, Koppal and Udupi are inching towards 60%. Apart from Bagalkot, the coverage has been below 40% in Yadgir, Ramanagaram, Vijayapura, Chamarajanagar, and Raichur.
According to State health officials, the target population for the precaution dose keeps changing everyday. This is because the number of eligible persons who have completed nine months after their second dose increases on a day-on-day basis.
