Hospitals and clinics are witnessing a sharp rise in the number of Calcuttans turning up to take vaccines for flu, pneumonia and other diseases, compared with
the pre-pandemic years, doctors and officials at hospitals said.
Public health experts said the Covid pandemic had instilled fears and also helped grow awareness about the importance of vaccination.
“Since the pandemic, there has been a behavioural change from denial of vaccine to acceptance. Covid played a big role in bringing about the change,” said Abhijit Chowdhury, a public health expert. “Covid vaccination has prevented many patients from getting critical.”
Several hospitals said the sale of influenza vaccines has gone up manifold since July, shortly after the onset of the monsoon in Bengal.
While one has to take the influenza shot once every year, the pneumonia vaccines are administered every five years.
“The sale of influenza vaccines started increasing in July. Now we have 16 to 17 people taking the vaccine every day at our outpatient department. During the Covid pandemic, the number was zero. Before the pandemic, only
one dose would be administered in a week,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of
Peerless Hospital.
“Earlier, only those above 60 would take the influenza vaccine. Now, even younger people are turning up for a shot.”
At the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, the demand for influenza shots has doubled, said an official.
“The demand for influenza and pneumonia vaccines has doubled compared with the pre-pandemic times. People are also looking for a dengue vaccine, which is not available,” said R. Venkatesh,
group COO, Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital.
Physician Amitabha Saha said he had seen a shift in the attitude of patients towards vaccines after the pandemic.
“Earlier, I had to convince elderly people to get vaccinated against influenza and pneumonia. There was no awareness about vaccination. There would be a lot of questions from patients regarding the efficacy and side-effects of vaccines,” said Saha, head of critical care at AMRI Hospitals, Mukundapur.
“But now, elderly people themselves are insisting on taking vaccines. Also, there has been a rise in the demand for hepatitis and typhoid vaccines among young people,” he said.
Saurabh Kole, cardiologist and medical coordinator, Belle Vue Clinic, and founder-
president of the Indian Society for Adult Immunisation,
said the demand for flu and pneumonia vaccines at the hospital has grown 15 times compared with the pre-Covid days.
“I have been trying to raise awareness about adult immunisation for many years, but there was hardly any interest among the people,” said Kole, who had formed the society along with other doctors in 2015.
“Earlier, in India, people would consider children’s immunisation as the only important vaccination programme. But now, I am seeing a rise in the demand for immunisation among adults,” he said.
Kole felt that in India, the government should make adult immunisation mandatory, as it has been done in
the UK and some other countries.
“This will reduce the country’s healthcare expenditure,” he said.