Vaccine hesitancy is still being witnessed in some pockets despite its advantages seen first hand by people. Those fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 had no severe infection and did not need oxygen during hospitalisation in Kurnool and Anantapur districts.
The two districts did not witness any mortality among this group after the second wave, point out pulmonologist Kona Muralidhar and Kurnool District Immunisation Officer K. Visveswara Reddy from their personal experience.
Mr. Muralidhar says that during the past 30 days all the COVID-19 cases admitted to KIMS Saveera were with mild symptoms and required no oxygen or ventilator support. An interesting observation was that all those patients were aged above 65 years, but got treated as outpatients. The common thread among them was they attended mass religious gatherings or social gatherings like weddings.
He cautions people against exposing children to crowded areas as they are the expected targets during the third wave with no vaccination policy in place yet for them in the country. “The government must come up with a paediatric vaccination schedule as early as possible,” he opines.
The Centre must take a decision soon on the booster dose for the vulnerable population like health workers and immunocompromised patients, he says.
Vaccine hesitancy is slowly giving way to informed adherence, says Dr. Visveswara Reddy and points out that 91% (27 lakh) of people in Kurnool district aged above 18 have taken at least one dose and 52% both doses. The district is fully prepared medical infrastructure-wise and equipped its remotest Primary Health Centres also with oxygen concentrators, he explains.
Anantapur district has vaccinated 84% of its target population of 30 lakh with single dose and 60% with both doses.
