BENGALURU: Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar said the booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine, for those aged above 18 years, will be another step towards strengthening the battle against the pandemic. The precautionary dose of the vaccine can be taken by those who have completed nine months, or 39 weeks, after the second dose of vaccination, he told reporters on Saturday. Currently, the first, second and precautionary doses of vaccines are being given to healthcare and frontline workers as well as those above 60 years of age at government vaccination centres. This will be accelerated further, he said. He also informed that as per data, Karnataka has administered 10.47 crore doses of Covid- 19 vaccine. Among the total population eligible for the precautionary dose, 14 lakh (57.6 per cent) have been vaccinated, he said.
Of those above 18 years of age, the state has administered more than 4.97 crore of the first dose vaccine. And it has completed administering the second dose of the vaccine to 4.76 crore people (97.4 per cent). Among those aged between 15 and 17 years, Karnataka has administered 5,23,05,424 (100.4 per cent) of the first dose, and 4,97,08,909 (95.4 per cent) of the second dose. Also the state has administered 13,27,985 first dose of vaccines to children aged between 12 and 14 years. The vaccination for the second dose for this age group will start shortly, he added.
Pvt hospitals can create slots on CoWIN
More than 800 private hospitals in Karnataka, including 100 in Bengaluru, have geared up to administer booster doses to those above the age of 18 from Sunday. They already have adequate doses of the vaccines, and many have even ordered for additional doses, according to Dr Rajashekar Y L, secretary, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association, Karnataka. Asked about many people reluctant to take the booster dose as Covid cases have dropped, Dr Rajashekar said, “Firstly, the booster dose will retain the benefits of the first and second doses. Though the cases have come down, they are sporadic (spread around randomly), so they will be well protected with the booster dose vaccine. A vaccine takes four to six weeks to be effective. So with the prediction of fourth wave by June, it is better to take it,” he said.