The state government has written to the Centre, requesting for a reduction in the gap between the second dose of Covid vaccines and the precaution or booster dose, which is now nine months.
As West Bengal witnesses a fresh rise in Covid cases, several hospitals are reporting a spike in the demand for the booster dose.
“We have written to the Centre to reduce the nine-month gap between the second and the precaution dose of Covid vaccines because of the rise in the number of cases. We are waiting for a reply,” a senior official of the state health department said on Wednesday.
“International travellers are allowed to take the precaution dose three months after the second dose. So, there should not be any problem in reducing the gap for others.”
On Wednesday, West Bengal recorded 295 new Covid cases and two deaths, according to the state health department. Several hospitals said they had admitted a few Covid patients during the day. Very few of them are in need of oxygen support.
Doctors say there is enough evidence that a third dose of a Covid vaccine provides better immunity against omicron and its sub-strains than two doses.
“Worldwide, most strains are Omicron variants, which are highly transmissible but are mostly causing mild disease. During the initial surge of Omicron earlier this year, it was seen that two doses of vaccines were not providing enough protection. But the third dose increased immunity significantly,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, infectious disease expert at Peerless Hospital.
The health department official said they held a meeting with experts from the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani.
“During their presentation, the experts said the BA 2.38 or BA.5 sub-variants of omicron are prevalent in India now. The situation is likely to be the same in Bengal,” said the official.
“The experts said both sub-variants are transmissible but do not cause severe disease in most patients. Vaccines are effective against them.”
Several private hospitals said there was a sharp rise in the demand for booster doses.
At the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, the number of vaccine recipients has gone up from an average of 30 to 40 a day to 100.
“All of them are coming for the precaution dose. Also, every week 20 to 25 international travellers are coming to take the precaution dose, although they have not completed nine months (from the second dose). We are keeping copies of travel documents,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east and south, Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital.
Peerless Hospital is having 200 recipients daily now. A few weeks back the figure was as low as 20.
“Every day, five to six persons who will travel abroad are coming to take the precaution dose. I feel healthcare workers should be allowed to take a fourth dose as well,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.