Hospitals are drawing up plans to adhere to Centre’s guidelines that anyone above 45 will be given a Covid shot from April 1 and the second dose of Covishield should be administered between six and eight weeks of the first dose for better protection.
Some hospitals are calling up Covishield recipients whose second dose is yet to be administered and offering them a fresh date.
The hospitals are also flooded with calls from the recipients seeking new dates, in accordance with the Centre’s new guideline.
Officials of several hospitals said that if anyone turned up for the second dose of Covishield 28 days after the first dose, they would offer him or her a new date 42 days after the first dose.
But if someone insists on taking the second dose 28 days after the first, the hospitals will not resist.
“The Centre’s new guideline says the second dose of Covishield can be administered between four and eight weeks of the first. So, if someone wants to take it after four weeks, we will give him or her the second dose,” said Pradip Tondon, the chief executive officer of Belle Vue Clinic.
In a letter to state health secretaries on Monday, the Union health secretary wrote the “recommendation has been revised to provide 2nd dose of COVISHIELD at 4-8 week’s interval after the 1st dose instead of the earlier practiced interval of 4-6 weeks”.
The letter added: “It appears that protection is enhanced if the second dose of COVISHIELD is administered between 6-8 weeks.”
Tondon said Belle Vue was flooded with calls from people who wanted to reschedule the date for the second dose of Covishield. When they had taken the first dose, they were given a date after 28 days for the second jab because the previous guideline had said that the second dose should be taken between four and six weeks of the first.
“We are calling up as many people (whose second dose of Covishield is due) as possible. Some people have called us and requested a new date, which is six weeks after the first dose,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, of which the RN tagore hospital is the flagship unit.
He, however, said that if an elderly person landed up for the second dose between four and six weeks of the first, they would vaccinate the person.
The hospitals are also drawing up plans to accommodate an increase in the number of vaccine recipients from April 1, from which day anyone above 45 will be eligible for a Covid shot.
“We have decided to extend vaccination hours from April 1. Vaccination will begin at 8am and continue till 8pm from April 1 at our hospitals in Dhakuria, Mukundapur and Salt Lake. We will also start vaccination on Sundays from April,” said Rupak Barua, the group CEO of AMRI Hospitals.
RN Tagore hospital will keep two sites for the two categories of recipients. People aged 60 and above and those between 45 and 59 with comorbidities will be vaccinated at one site, and people above 45 without any comorbidity will be vaccinated at the other.
“We have two sites now. One is reserved for healthcare and frontline workers. Administering their second doses will be over by March. We will reserve the site for those above 45,” said Venkatesh.
Officials at Belle Vue said they were using only 2,500sq ft of an 8,000sq ft floor for Covid vaccination. If required, more sites will be opened to accommodate more recipients.
Case count
Bengal on Tuesday had 82 active Covid cases. The total active cases now is 3,656. The state had 320 recoveries and 404 new infections, besides two deaths, one in the city.
