Private hospitals in Pune gear up to administer Covid booster doses

With the new variants and threat of an increase in Covid cases, many people are now coming to us for the booster doses

Many private hospitals had almost stopped vaccine procurement after a decline in numbers. However, with rising demand for booster doses and Covishield, private hospitals are now gearing up for vaccination.

As of Sunday, there are 275 vaccination sites in Maharashtra out of which only 74 are private whereas 201 are government-run as per the Cowin dashboard. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Dr Rupali Suryavanshi, head of infection control and head of clinical microbiology at Ruby Hall Clinic, said that there is a drastic increase in demand for booster doses in the last two weeks.

“With the new variants and threat of an increase in Covid cases, many people are now coming to us for the booster doses. We have Covishield with us and we have seen an increase in demand for booster doses. Many beneficiaries who have not taken the booster dose are now coming to take the jab. Suddenly people are more vigilant due to the threat of the new variant,” said Dr Suryavanshi.

Sharing similar views, Dr Viju Rajan, hospital director, Manipal Hospital, Baner-Pune, said that the demand has increased for booster doses.

“The demand for vaccination and booster dose has increased in the past two weeks and we currently have Covaxin,” said Dr Rajan.

The state health department has noted that they do not have Covishield vaccine doses and as a result, no government-run vaccination site has the jabs. Whereas the state health department has only Covaxin jabs with them which are available at their centres.

As of Sunday, there are 275 vaccination sites in Maharashtra out of which only 74 are private whereas 201 are government-run as per the Cowin dashboard.