9 million in state yet to take either dose of Covid vaccine

Over the last few weeks, the vaccination rate in the state has reduced with over nine million people in Maharashtra yet to take either of the dose

Mumbai Over the last few weeks, the vaccination rate in the state has reduced with over nine million people in Maharashtra yet to take either of the doses.

The vaccination drive among teenagers in the age group of 15-18 too has lost pace as about over 40% of 6.3 million eligible people are yet to take their first shot, three months after the drive kicked off (Praful Gangurde)

A significant drop in the daily caseload, vaccine hesitancy, lack of fear of Covid, and the lack of awareness programmes can be attributed to the dwindling rate of inoculation over the last couple of months.

The vaccination drive among teenagers in the age group of 15-18 too has lost pace as about over 40% of 6.3 million eligible people are yet to take their first shot, three months after the drive kicked off.

Maharashtra has administered 160 million doses, from which 88.75 million people above the age of 18 were inoculated with the first dose, 69.8 million have been inoculated with the second shot as on March 27, 2022. The percentage of vaccination in the state also went down in the last two months as until March 27, 4.58 million people were administered various doses in March, as against 7.51 million doses administered in February, 14.56 million doses administered in January and 19.36 million in December. Maharashtra has an eligible population of 101.6 million.

“The overall response to the vaccination drive had dwindled after the third wave started flattening in the state. The response among the youngsters in the age group of 15-18 years too is poor as only 3.74 million of 6.3 million eligible beneficiaries have come forward in the last three months. The resistance among the remaining number of people is high for various reasons, making it difficult to convince them for inoculation,” said an official from the health department.

Dr Sachin Desai, state immunisation officer, said that people who have not taken either of the doses are being contacted personally by health teams. “Our teams of health workers contact the beneficiaries and try to convince them to take the jab. After the third wave settled down, the fear among people about the infection also reduced. They have also become complacent after they realise that they may have already developed antibodies. The coverage of first dose administration has reached 92%, while it’s 74% for the second dose,” he said.

Dr Desai said that the state has enough vaccine stock. “We have over five million doses of Covieshield, 2.5 million doses of Covaxin and three million doses of Corbevax,” he added.

Dr Avinash Bhondve, the former president of Indian Medical Association, said, “There is no fear among people. WHO has recently warned that the pandemic is not over and new variants can emerge anytime leading to new waves. The government should take up an awareness drive to convince people. They should be convinced that the vaccines are side-effect free and they save you from the severity of infection and possible death. From April 1, the government is planning to open up everything and in such a scenario, the rise in the percentage of the vaccination is very important.”

Meanwhile, the state government is expected to relax more curbs after the central government announced to revoke the Disaster Management Act from April 1. “The state executive committee under chief secretary will take a call on relaxation of more curbs on Tuesday. More districts are expected to be qualified for more relaxations by complying with the four parameters of vaccination, positivity rate and bed occupancy. Besides the exemptions given on the basis of the parameters, the committee is also expected to take a call on compulsion of two doses for travelling in the local trains,” said an official.

As per the order issued on March 1, fourteen districts including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur had passed the benchmark for relaxations that allowed operation of hotels, shopping complexes, theatres, sports complexes at 100% of their capacity and the social, religious, political, cultural gatherings at 50% of the capacity.

Meanwhile, the state reported 110 new cases and zero deaths on Monday. Of the fresh cases logged in the last 24 hours, 50 were from Mumbai, 22 from Pune. State has 964 active cases, including 290 in Mumbai and 164 in Thane and 244 in Pune.