Booster dose vaccination for 18 and above begins at private vaccination centers

Chennai: The administration of booster dose vaccination for those aged 18 years and above at private vaccination centers began on Sunday. The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine released the guidelines for the vaccination of adults on Saturday evening.

However, the response at most of the private vaccination centers was slow with very few of them seeing walk-ins for 18 plus booster dose vaccination. The private hospital authorities say that the announcement was a very sudden one and it will take some time to get the protocols in place.

"It is too early for us to determine how are people responding to the precautionary booster dose vaccination for those aged 18 years and above. However, people did not have much time to register on the Co-WIN portal. It might get more pace over the next few weeks," said Dr. Vijayalakshmi Balakrishnan, Senior Consultant, Infectious Diseases at Kauvery Hospital.

Doctors say that people need to be more aware of the need for precautionary booster doses, especially for people with comorbidities.

"During the Omicron wave, the severity of the infection was limited and vaccination was the key factor behind the third wave not being as intense as the previous two waves. It is important for certain high-risk people among the middle aged groups to get vaccinated as managing the diseases with several comorbidities becomes difficult. As the testing rate has come down and we have opened up completely with no relaxations, it is significant that eligible people with co-morbid conditions get vaccinated," said Dr. Vijayalakshmi.

The representatives from a private hospital in Nungambakkam said that they also have to take into account of the availability of stocks and update the details on Co-WIN which might take some more days so that the vaccination can pick up. Meanwhile, the state health department officials say that there are plans of conducting vaccination camps along with private hospitals for the benefit of adults by vaccinating them with precautionary booster doses.