Nagpur: Paid booster drive picking pace, two hospitals in list

NAGPUR: Two more private hospitals have started offering paid jabs, mainly for the booster dose of 18 to 59 age group while one is starting Covovax drive following demand for them in the city.
The response has been good to these hospitals while the drive is going steady at other three paid centres. The new joinees said the vaccine makers are now accepting small orders of 50 vials which has helped them procure the minimum number of doses.
Dande Hospital, the latest to start paid drive, has got 500 doses of Covishield to restart the vaccination after giving it up last year. The hospital, like several others, didn’t procure doses after the government made vaccine free for all age groups.
“We had queries and many beneficiaries have started taking the booster dose now,” said Dr Pinaki Dande.
Though the decision on paid precautionary doses for below 59 year age was taken some months ago, many citizens are still not aware of the move.
Civic immunisation officials said they keep getting queries from 18 to 59 age group beneficiaries about booster dose. “We have to explain to them that precaution dose is not available to them at government centres. We also have to guide them to private hospitals where these may be available. Covaxin is available at a couple of paid centres but many are not able to easily find a Covishield paid jab,” officials said.
Aejaz Shami, DGM communications, Kingsway Hospital said that the response to paid jab has improved. “We had to place order for 500 doses of Covishield twice. The third procurement of as many doses will be delivered next week. We have 800 doses of Covaxin. Corporates enquiries are encouraging and we are thinking of placing bulk order for them,” he said.
Shami added that following demand, they have also procured 200 doses of SII’s Covovax for 12 to 17 years. “It has a 21-day cycle for the second dose,” he said.