Demand for booster dose increases in Jamshedpur, 15,000 people inoculated in five days

Jamshedpur, July 20: Amid the fear of a possible fourth wave of Covid-19, there has been an increase in the number of precautionary or booster doses being administered in the 18-59 age group across the district.

During the last 24 hours, 37 positive cases of Covid-19 have been reported, something which was seen for the first time after February 16, 2022. Out of these 37 cases, five are children.

“The cases have seen a sudden jump. We had taken samples of 1,070 at various hospitals and administration-run facilities on Tuesday. Of these samples, 37 were tested positive, including five children. Earlier till July 18, the number of Covid positives had remained confined to 30,” said East Singhbhum district civil surgeon, Jujhar Majhi.

Majhi informed that an 85-year-old man who had co-morbidity died of Covid at the Tata Motors Hospital four days ago.  Significantly, keeping the rising trend of the Covid in the steel city, the district administration has on Monday declared the Covid protocol must be followed strictly in the steel city.

Officials informed that over 15,000 people have been inoculated with the booster dose during the past five days.

“This sudden demand for boosters coincided with a rise in daily Covid-19 cases across the city. Amid the blip or you can say a surge in cases, the demand for boosters has naturally gone up, especially among the elderly and with comorbidities,” said an official.

“Despite the arrival of monsoon, our health workers are trying to vaccinate people with the third dose. With the flattening of the pandemic curve, the villagers were hesitant earlier but now, they are showing eagerness to get the booster dose,” he added.

He noted that many people have still not taken their booster shots, which is why we need to get the message across that vaccines can save lives. There is enough data to prove that vaccines are one of the most important strategies to prevent severe illness and mortality. We need to understand their importance and convince people to take precautionary doses so that the virus can be controlled. Doctors have observed that though vaccination doesn’t provide protection against infection but it does help in containing the severity, lowering the mortality rate.