68.04% give vaccine a shot on Day 3 in Maharashtra

At 68

At 68.04%, the state saw an improvement in the turnout on the third day of the vaccination drive on Wednesday. The turnout was 64.34% of the daily target on Day 1 on Saturday and 52.68% of the daily target on Tuesday. While the state authorities are hopeful about gradual improvement in the response from health care workers (HCWs), the state health department plans to hold a counselling and awareness drive to attract more beneficiaries.

A healthcare worker receives a dose of Covishield vaccine, at Nair Hospital. (Pratik Chorge/HT)

A total of 18,166 HCWs were inoculated across 267 centres on Wednesday, taking the tally of beneficiaries to 51,650. Of them, 881 have been given Bharat Biotech Limited’s Covaxin. The number of centres was reduced on Wednesday owing to technical glitches in the CoWIN app.

The comparatively backward districts of Amravati (112%), Hingoli (107%), Dhule (92%) and Osmanabad (80%) reported high turnout, while Aurangabad (31%), Pune (38%) and Raigad (35%) saw the lowest turnout. Mumbai met 72% of its daily target, while Thane saw 77% turnout.

The state has decided to four sessions a week – on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The state expects 55.5% of the 800,000 HCWs to be vaccinated by mid-February and begin their inoculation for the second dose. The state government has so far been given 983,000 vials of Covaxin and Covishield and need more stock of the vaccine to begin the inoculation of remaining HCWs.

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said the state health department will launch an information, education and communication (IEC) drive and counsel HCWs, to improve the Covid vaccination percentage. “I would not call the turnout low, as Maharashtra saw among the highest responses in the country on Day one. It is true that all enrolled HCWs are not coming for vaccination, but we should not go into the percentage of the turnout. To improve it further, I am releasing a video appealing to our HCWs to come forward and set an example for others. Ultimately, they are the message givers and idols for many,” he said. “We still are facing technical problems with the Co-WIN app and some beneficiaries find their names cancelled after the initial enrolment. Second, the HCWs are still hesitant over safety and want to first gauge the efficacy for a few days. Because of these two reasons the turnout is not up to the mark,” Tope said.

The minister said there should not be any apprehension about Bharat Biotech Limited’s Covaxin as it has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India and ratified by scientists as safe for use. The minister said there were very few adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) in the state. “We expect gradual improvement in response as fear among HCWs is reducing. We did not get a single case of even minor AEFI in five districts in north Maharashtra,” said Dr PD Gandal, deputy director of health services, Nashik division.

Meanwhile, the tally of Covid-19 cases inched close to 2-million mark, as 3,015 new infections took the total to 1,997,992. With 59 new deaths, the death toll has reached 50,582. The state’s case fatality rate stands at 2.53%. Mumbai clocked 501 cases and 9 deaths, taking the tally to 304,126 and toll to 11,268. Pune, Nagpur and Nashik remain among the top contributing cities in the state, with 323, 219 and 216 cases reported on Wednesday.

Maharashtra has 46,769 active patients. Pune district has the highest (13,807), followed by Thane (8,688) and Mumbai (6,656). After the discharge of 4,589 patients, the number of discharged patients has reached 1,899,428, with a recovery rate of 95.07%.