homehealthcare NewsNational task force chief says fear of COVID has dropped — only 3.8% Indians have taken booster
National task force chief says fear of COVID has dropped — only 3.8% Indians have taken booster
India's daily COVID count crosses 20,000 for the first time in 5 months, but hospitalisation and the death toll remains relatively low. On the vaccination front, 71 percent of the population has received both doses and only 3.8 percent Indians have taken the precautionary dose, also known as the booster dose. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Dr NK Arora, chairman of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), put this down the lessening fear of COVID-19 among people.
The number of COVID-19 cases is increasing — around 20,000 have been reported in the past 24 hours, a four-month high, while the daily death toll remains below 50.
According to official data, only 3.8 percent of Indians have taken the precautionary vaccine dose. Dr NK Arora, chairman of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), put this down to decreasing fear of COVID-19 among people.
“Overall, it appears that the fear factor or the concern that COVID can be dangerous, probably is minimum,” Arora told CNBC-TV18.
Another reason for the low update of the booster shot, Arora said, was that people were unwilling wait to pay. “But there are several states where precaution dose was made free, about eight weeks ago, but even there it has not picked up … so the whole concern is that I think the people are less (worried0 and we need to really push it hard,” he said.
Arora said people should not let their guard down especially now with several sub-variants of Omicron emerging. “Just in the past eight or 10 weeks, 8-10 new sub lineages of Omicron have been discovered, but it has not made any difference to people (as far as vaccine is concerned),” he said.
So far, nearly 199 crore doses have been administered — 71 percent of the country’s population has received both doses. Starting July 15, all adults in the 18-59 age group will be eligible for free precautionary shots at government-run centres. This decision comes as millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses will expire in the next two months.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India which manufactures Covishield, told CNBC-TV18 that they will have to destroy at least 200 million vaccine doses by August-September.
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