74% police personnel in Maharashtra fully vaccinated

Around 74% of police personnel in Maharashtra are fully vaccinated as of Friday, while 93% are part inoculated with their first doses of vaccines for Covid-19.

As per the data maintained by the state police headquarters, till July 9, Maharashtra Police, which has a total strength of 195,415 police personnel, had part vaccinated 182,551 (93.417%) personnel with the first dose, while 144,952 (74.176%) cops were fully vaccinated.

Senior police officers said the second Covid wave was less lethal for the department as it claimed the lives of 115 personnel during the peak of infection in April-May 2021, as compared to 185 casualties during the peak of the first wave between July and September 2020.

During the peak period of the second wave, a total of 10,034 policemen got infected by the virus, while 18,135 cops were infected during the peak of the first wave.

Senior police officers attribute the lesser impact of the second wave on police force to the aggressive vaccination programme.

“Adopting aggressive persuasion vaccination is one of the key reasons that are responsible for comparatively lesser casualties among police peronnel due to the deadly infection during the second wave. Emphasising on Covid-appropriate behaviour and conveying the importance of maintaining hand hygiene are also some of the factors that helped keep the number under control,” said Sanjeev Singhal, additional director general (administration), Maharashtra Police.

Besides this, it has also been observed that at least 54 policemen from the state police force have died of Covid-19 despite receiving the vaccine. It also included 25 police personnel who were fully vaccinated. Surprisingly, of the total 54 deaths, 26 deceased police personnel had no comorbidities or past medical history.

Senior officers believe that various factors could be responsible for this, including not adopting Covid-appropriate behaviour, ignoring symptoms and delay in treatment.

A total of 135 policemen have died due to the virus between March 1 to June 30. Of these, 64 were suffering from comorbidities or had a past medical history. Diabetes, blood pressure, sugar were the most common among those cops who died of Covid-19.

“There are cases of policemen having died of Covid-19 despite receiving the vaccines and also did not have any co-morbidities. But, that number is very less and the exact reason behind their deaths are yet to be established and analysed. But, this should not be seen in the context of the efficacy of the vaccines. The proportion of such cases should be looked at with the overall strength of the force or those who are vaccinated,” said Singhal.

So far in Maharashtra, a total of 44,921 police personnel have been infected with the virus across the state while 485 cops have died of the infection. Currently, there are 442 active cases. Around 43,993 police personnel have recovered from the infection.

Vinoy K Choubey, senior IPS officer who extensively worked in handling the first wave of the pandemic as joint commissioner of police in Mumbai, said, “There is no doubt that despite the increase in the prevalence of variants of concern, vaccination remains our most potent weapon to combat this scourge.”