Small government Covid vaccination centres tight-fisted about opening vials

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru

The scarcity of vaccines in government facilities has meant doses are booked days in advance on Cowin, while there aren’t enough takers on walk-in basis at smaller vaccination centres in Bengaluru Urban.

 Doctors and attendants at these smaller centres said that they cannot open a vial that comprises of 10 doses unless there were enough takers. Moreover, not every vaccination centre is enlisted on Cowin. The website also lists a number of private hospitals that stock plenty of doses that one needs to pay for, usually Rs 225 per shot. Experts argue that the cost is too high for working class people for whom Rs 200 might be daily wages.

This is despite the enthusiasm for vaccines waning months after the third wave. According to health ministry data, 92 per cent of those who are eligible for the booster shot – called the precautionary dose in India – have not been jabbed as of mid-July.

The Union government had made the required gap between the second dose and the booster nine months initially, ostensibly due to a scarcity of doses. The gap was reduced to six months in the first week of July. However, a Bengaluru-based citizen who wanted to get a booster shot said that he ran into difficulties.

“I got my second vaccine back in mid-October. Back then, there had been no booster doses. When they were announced, a gap of nine months was prescribed between the second shot and the precautionary dose. The gap was reduced to six months in July. Now my Cowin account says my shot was due in mid-April, which is misleading. I wasn’t eligible back then.

“When I tried to book a booster on Cowin sometime in late July, I found that they were all booked days in advance. Only private facilities offered enough paid doses, but those hospitals were quite far away from where I live. Later on, I contacted smaller vaccination centres near Magadi Road, which is close to where I live, but they said they can’t open a vial of ten doses if there aren’t enough takers. I’ve waited a few weeks. I think I’ll just get a booster at a bigger government hospital, failing which I’ll get a paid jab at a private facility,” he said.

No issue in big hospitals

National Health Mission (NHM) Director Karnataka Arundhati Chandrashekhar said that smaller vaccination centres were only trying to reduce wastage by not opening vials when there weren’t enough takers. “There are two things. One, if you go to a smaller facility, it’s an issue. Either you go to a bigger facility or you go to a camp where they administer doses. We are trying to avoid wastage. If you open a vial for one person and nine people don’t turn up, then we’ll have a lot of issues,” she said.

 “If there are at least six to seven people, they can open and hopefully in the next three to four hours, they’ll find people for the rest. One can go to a bigger facility like KC General Hospital, one won’t have many issues,” the state NHM director added. She admitted that the enthusiasm for getting vaccinated has waned. “The fear of Covid is gone,” Arundhati said