On Tuesday, office-bearers of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said that the hesitancy for the precaution dose was more among paramedics which included nurses, therapists, technicians and other ancillary personnel involved in medical services.

Dr Sanjay Patil, the chairman of the IMA’s Hospital Board of India said that paramedics should get the third precautionary dose as they were also exposed to many patients every day like doctors. Currently, only the healthcare workers had the option of availing the precautionary dose free. In Pune, a large network of state and civic-run vaccination centres were providing free vaccinations and many private hospitals were offering their staffers the third dose free.

Senior paediatrician Dr Dilip Sarda, the chairman of the Pune IMA’s core committee on Covid vaccination, also supported the fact that healthcare workers should come forward for the precautionary dose.

Dr Muralidhar Tambe, acting dean of the state-run B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital stated that the response to the third dose was comparatively better in doctors, nurses and medical students in their college, but some hesitation was till their among support staffers and counselling had been initiated for them.

Only 6% of the total eligible people availed the precautionary dose in the eight days of the drive-in Pune district. On Tuesday 52,653 more people in Pune received their Covid shots, which included vaccination of teenagers and precaution doses administered to healthcare and frontline workers, and senior citizens above 60 years of age, who have completed nine months from the second dose.

Source: The Times of India