mumbai powais lh hiranandani hospital is the first in the city to write to the corporation and state government demanding a booster shot for healthcare workers toi had reported last week how several healthcare workers and politicians were skirting cowin to take the third shot fearing a depletion in their antibody levels a third booster shot against covid19 has not been allowed by the centre yet however some western countries have approved a booster shot for those immunocompromised and for healthcare workers in india the centre has said the booster shot is not a priority and the policy would focus on universal vaccination of citizensits almost six months since health staff took a second jab in over 80 of health workers by now the efficacy of vaccine taken has reduced considerably and among many it has become nil as on today said dr sujit chatterjee ceo of lh hiranandani he added that while the centres priority of completing administering of second doses to cover the maximum population is understandable and even logical it needs to be seen that those on the frontlines are protected the booster jab can be restricted only to health workers which is a tiny portion of the total population he said several hospital heads that toi spoke to support the idea of a third shot but have decided to wait for a decision from the centre the issue of taking booster shots was also discussed in a recent meeting of the association of hospitals aoh which includes mumbais major trustrun hospitalsdr v ravishankar coo of lilavati hospital said the aoh wont approach the government for booster shots at the momentthe need for a third shot is still being studied healthcare workers are measuring antibody levels but there is also something called cellmediated immunity that must be considered most countries have recommended a third shot mainly for those with immune deficiencies he said adding that hospitals are watching the emerging evidence closely the head of a private hospital said several have taken the third shot after measuring their antibodieshemant deshmukh dean of kem hospital said breakthrough infections among health workers are being reported but they are a handful if our hospital laboratory is detecting an average of four or five positive cases daily one or two would be of breakthrough infections he said