State aims to give booster doses to about 4.84 crore by Sept end
kolkata: With the state government setting a target of completing booster vaccinations among around 4.85 crore people of Bengal by the end of September, the state health department has directed the chief medical officer of health (CMoHs) in the districts to conduct 5.50 to 6 lakh booster vaccinations everyday in their respective districts.
According to the Health department's data, in order to achieve the target of 6 lakh across Bengal, more than 40 lakh people have to be vaccinated with booster doses within September 30 in Kolkata only. Over 49 lakh people in North 24-Parganas are eligible to get booster doses. If everything goes as per plan, around 27 lakh people in South 24-Parganas are expected to receive a booster within the stipulated time. To achieve the overall mark of 6 crore within September 30, Howrah district administrations have to administer booster doses on at least 26 lakh people. Hooghly district has to administer a booster on over 30 lakh people.
Bengal has so far administered over 50.60 lakh booster doses cumulatively on the people till Monday. Around 72,765,809 people received the first dose while 64,024,640 crore received two doses of Covid vaccine till date.
The health department urged the district administrations to give emphasis on booster doses. Some of the health experts have pointed out that Covid vaccine needs to be upgraded as the vaccines were designed to fight the Delta variant that created havoc during the second wave of Covid. Subsequently, the Omicron sub-lineages, especially BA.2, had appeared.
Health experts had earlier warned that asymptomatic cases are going up and they suggested that the number of daily Covid tests should be increased. "Time has come to redesign the vaccine so that Omicron sub-lineages or other strains can be checked. Since no Delta strain was identified this time around, Covishield and Covaxin may no longer offer a fool-proof guard against the prevailing variants," Dr S Biswas, a senior doctor from the city said.
