Indore: No interest in 'paid vax' only 1.5K take shots so far

Indore (Madhya Pradesh)

Even with the cases of new variants of Covid-19 being reported in our country which has increased the fear of the spread of the fourth wave of Covid-19, the poor response to the vaccination drive continues in the city.

Not only the kids’ vaccination but the precaution dose of people above 18 years of age didn’t get the desired response as there were only around 1,500 people who had taken the ‘paid’ dose of the vaccine.

The department officials said that there are about 28 lakh people above 18 years of age in the city but the precaution for people above 60 years is free. There would be about 24 lakh people who are between the age of 18 and 59 years of age. More than three lakh of them have turned eligible for the dose as they have completed the nine months from taking the second dose of vaccine.

However, the pace of vaccination is not as per the expectations of the health officials as only about 1.16 lakh people have taken the precaution dose which includes only about 1500 of those who have taken the paid vaccine dose.

“As the cases of Covid-19 have decreased, people are not showing interest in taking precaution doses. People must not avoid taking precaution dose as it will provide an extra cover from the deadly pandemic disease and also helps in avoiding the inception of the fourth wave,” Immunization Officer Dr Tarun Gupta said.

On the question of slow vaccination of kids, Dr Gupta added that they have appealed to the people to get their kids vaccinated at the earliest. It would be better if kids got both doses of vaccination by May. However, taking the first dose now will make kids fully protected as they could take both doses before June, when new sessions would be started,” Dr Gupta added.

Only around 700 doses administered on Friday

About 700 doses of vaccine could be administered throughout the day on Friday which includes only 40-50 precaution doses administered in private hospitals. Health department officials are expecting a rise in the number of precaution dose administrations from next week.

Published on: Saturday, April 23, 2022, 12:04 AM IST