Take booster shot: Heath dept urges public as vax to expire soon

CHENNAI: The number of COVID cases is declining slowly for the past few days in the State, but officials of the State Health Department emphasise on the need to vaccinate the public with booster dose.

As the booster dose vaccination for common public is paid and is given free of cost only for frontline workers and healthcare workers, precautionary booster dose vaccination is not getting many takers at vaccination centres.

To encourage people to take booster shot, and to prevent wastage of vaccines due to expiry date approaching soon, the State Health Department has requested the Union Health Ministry to allow free booster dose vaccination for all. Approval is awaited.

To prevent wastage, the State has to use more than 30 lakh vaccines by September 2022. “Further only 5% of the eligible population in the State has got the booster dose till now,” officials said.

Officials from the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine say that the department is trying to utilise all vaccines and prevent the wastage by conducting mass vaccination and door-to-door vaccination. “Free booster dose vaccination is not only required with new and more transmissible sub-variants surfacing, it will also minimalise wastage of vaccines,” they pointed out.

Regarding the inclusion of COVID-19 booster dose vaccination as part of the CSR activity by private hospitals, the government is yet to receive the interests of these private hospitals on the same.

“We’ve asked for status report on vaccination conducted at each vaccination site and stock available with the government to chalk out a plan for promoting booster dose administration. We’re discussing with private hospitals to include free booster dose vaccination as part of their CSR initatives. We’re waiting for private hospitals to respond,” explained Dr Vinay Kumar, state immunisation officer, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Moreover, the State Health Department had also asked private hospitals to not levy service charge on vaccines.

“Two private hospitals have agreed to our suggestion and have discontinued levying service charge on vaccines,” an official from the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said.