One week in, fewer HCWs turning up for 'booster' jab

New Delhi: One week after "precautionary" doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were made available in the Capital, the city has seen over 1.47 lakh people sign up for their third dose but even as the third wave continues in the country, fewer healthcare workers are turning up for their "booster" shot, according to data made available by authorities.

Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday announced that till late on Sunday, 1.27 lakh precautionary doses had been administered in the Capital, of which the maximum was taken by frontline workers (around 60,000), followed by those above 60 years old and with comorbidities (35,000), with the remaining doses administered to around 32,000 healthcare workers.

On Monday, authorities said around 18,600 precautionary doses were administered till 7:30 pm, of which the least was to healthcare workers (2,978) and the maximum to frontline workers (over 9,000) — a trend noticeable in daily figures consistently now.

According to the Delhi government's own estimates, there are around 3 lakh healthcare workers in the city who have been marked as such - meaning so far, just a little over 11 per cent of registered healthcare workers have received the third dose of the vaccine. Significantly, of all the third doses administered in the city, a little over 25 per cent have been given to healthcare workers and nearly 50 per cent to frontline workers.

Daily data on third dose vaccination showed that while those above 60 were enthusiastic about getting this shot early on, frontline workers have led the drive.

And the data also shows that the number of health workers getting this dose is reducing by the day — which could be owing to many healthcare workers testing positive for Covid in this wave and having to isolate.

While the first two days of the drive saw nearly 6,000 to 7,000 health workers taking the third dose, this number has dropped to the high 3,000s and low 4,000s since.