Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Neither the people nor the private hospitals appear interested in the ‘paid’ precaution dose for those above 18 years of age.
As per the record of the district health department, only over 2,500 people have taken the paid precaution dose while only six private hospitals are running the vaccination centres in the city.
The poor response to the vaccination drive continued in the city even after 16 days have been passed since the paid vaccination started.
“There are reasons for hospitals not being interested in starting paid vaccination centre, which includes lack of interest in people for the same. As the cases of Covid-19 has decreased, people are not coming for taking free doses at government centres and the same condition is with the private centres,” an administrative officer of a private hospital, wishing anonymity, said.
Meanwhile, the president of the Nursing Home Association Dr Vijay Harlalka said that one of the major reasons for the lack of interest of hospitals in paid centres is the uncertainty of the government policies regarding vaccination.
“Earlier too the government has asked us to start paid vaccination centres but they suddenly changed the policy and provided free vaccination to the people. Many hospitals had to return their stocks,” Dr Harlalka said.
Over 3 lakh people turn eligible for precaution dose
According to health officials, more than three lakh people above 18 years of age have turned eligible for the dose as they have completed nine months from taking the second dose of the vaccine.
“As the cases of Covid-19 have decreased, people are not showing interest in taking precaution doses. People must not avoid taking precaution doses 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.
