No cert for those who took secret booster shot

No cert for those who took secret booster shot

Amrita.Didyala@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 28.12.2021

Hundreds of doctors, businessmen and other professionals who have already taken a booster dose in September-October in the state will not get a vaccination certificate. In most cases, they were given a prescription by doctor, but there is no registry on boosters in most hospitals.

“If they have taken a booster before announcement by Centre, it is not as per the Government of India (GOI) guidelines. As on today, booster is not permitted by GOI,” director, medical education, Dr K Ramesh Reddy said.

‘No authority to issue certificates currently’

Director, medical education Ramesh Reddy added, “If in future, they permit and then the booster dose is taken, it will be recorded. Therefore, there is no question of issuing the certificate.”

“Also, there is no authority to issue certificates currently for the same,” said director, public health, Dr G Srinivasa Rao. The Centre has not announced whether the third dose would have a related certificate. Since it might not be required to show the certificate anywhere and it may not be a formal thing, corporate hospital sources say so far there was no record of these doses.

“We had a large chunk of our staff, nurses and doctors opting for booster dose in October. Whoever wanted to get it was given a prescription by doctor and that was sufficient. Some had even got it from small centres near their homes, but strict maintenance of records is not there like it was in the case of the first two doses,” a senior representative of a corporate hospital said.