Poor response to booster doses on day 1

Dr Gautam Bhansali, chief coordinator of private hospitals for vaccination and Covid, said that people are reluctant about the third jab

Mumbai The day one of booster doses for the adult population saw a poor response from both private hospitals and eligible beneficiaries. While the number of hospitals administering booster doses remained low, the number of beneficiaries opting for the jab was also less.

PD Hinduja Hospital in Mahim, one of the 29 private vaccination centres that were offering the booster dose on Sunday, saw close to 200 people opting for the third jab (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

According to Co-Win estimate, 1,233 people took the booster dose in the city on Sunday.

Dr Gautam Bhansali, chief coordinator of private hospitals for vaccination and Covid, said that people are reluctant about the third jab. Bombay Hospital, which didn’t participate in the booster drive, said that they have ordered a fresh stock which they are expecting in the next few days. “Looking at the present situation, we don’t expect a good response for the booster dose. We will buy stock in small quantities so that we don’t waste the vaccines like last time,” he said.

PD Hinduja Hospital in Mahim, one of the 29 private vaccination centres that were offering the booster dose on Sunday, saw close to 200 people opting for the third jab. “We saw a good response on day one. We will wait and gauge the response in the coming days before ordering fresh stock,” said Joy Chakraborty, COO, PD Hinduja Hospital. The hospital has stock for the next three days.

Dr Bijoy Kutty, medical director of Platinum Hospital in Mulund, said that they saw poor response as less than 100 people came forward for the booster dose. “Hopefully, the response will be better from tomorrow,” he said.

The hospital has 1,000 doses from the old stock that will expire this month-end. “We haven’t placed any fresh orders. Depending on the response, we will decide whether to order and how much to order,” he said.

Meanwhile, many private hospitals have decided to start the booster drive on Monday. Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Andheri, which saw 10,000 doses expire in the last two months, said that they’ll start the booster dose programme for the concerned group from Monday. “We have close to 1,000 doses right now which will be utilised for the booster dose. We have decided to continue with the vaccination programme but will order as per requirement,” Dr Santosh Shetty, CEO of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital said.

Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, which announced a discount on the old stock on Friday, presently has 2,500 doses that are going to expire by mid-June. “We will start the booster dose from Monday. We shall administer a booster dose from our old stock of vax at the old rate. When we order new stock, it will be administered at the new rate announced by the government,” said Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO of the hospital.

Mumbai has a population of 92.3 lakh eligible for the booster dose. Nidhi Thakkar (36), a Bandra resident who works with YouTube, was one of the many who took the booster dose on Sunday. “My husband and I decided to take the booster dose as we have travel plans and some parts of the world are still seeing a surge. We didn’t want to take the risk,” she said.

Her husband, Arun Ashok, said that they initially thought they’ll have an issue in getting slots, but the entire process was smooth. “We easily got the morning slot and there were hardly any people at the centre for the booster dose,” he said.

A day after the central government announced booster doses, the price of the two Covid vaccines were slashed. While the price of Covishield has been cut down from ₹600 to ₹225 per dose, Covaxin has been reduced from ₹1,200 to ₹225 with a ₹150 cap on Covid vaccine administration charges for private hospitals to prevent overcharging.

Nikhil Mishra (34), interior designer from Wadala, said that he will wait for the new rates to take the booster dose. “The government should have allowed booster doses for us in the public sector. However, with the new rates, which is half of the existing rate, I’ll take the booster dose. Presently, all the hospitals are giving it at the old rate,” he said.