New Covid patients skipped booster dose, docs call for 4th jab

Nagpur: Even as the new recombinant variant XBB of Covid is spreading fast in many cities, doctors have observed that most of those testing positive in the last two weeks had skipped their booster doses. Immunity from previous infections and vaccination are not enough to protect individuals from the new variant after a certain period of time, they said.
Doctors also called for a government policy on the 4th Covid dose in the wake of the new infectious variant. The vaccination drive has overall fizzled out, with few caring to take their due doses. Surveillance authorities have already sounded the alert after XBB cases started doubling in a short time in the country.
The district has recorded over 150 Covid positive cases this month so far, with over 500 daily tests. Many among these also included flu-like illness patients, who later tested positive for SarsCov-2.
Pulmonologist Dr Rajesh Swarnakar said citizens must take the precaution dose at least six months after their second dose. “All Covid positive patients I have seen in the last two weeks were mainly people who had not taken the booster dose. There is a direct connection. We don’t know how long the immunity lasts. It is also possible that immunity is waning comparatively earlier than others in people with comorbidities,” he said.
Dr Swarnakar lamented that 10 million doses had to be discarded by Serum Institute of India (SII), which manufactures Covishield, as there were no takers for it. “It is a national waste. In Europe, you have to take a booster dose after 280 days. The government could have given these doses to healthcare workers who have taken third dose more than six months back. People must act responsibly. You were only bothered about it when there was a problem,” he said. The pulmonologist suggested that there must be incentives and disincentives for taking or skipping precaution doses.
Physician Dr Harshvardhan Bora said, “We don’t know if we really need the 4th dose or not, but definitely those who missed 3rd dose and are having comorbidities including 40+ age should take the booster dose.”
The district could cover over 5.60 lakh beneficiaries with the third precaution dose so far. This comes to an achievement of 19.14% in the state. The district has over 29 lakh eligible persons for the booster dose. The drive is continuing but centres are recording low turnout or no show on many days.