Districts with zero booster dose, sees multifold rise

Sindhudhurg, saw 914 doses administered, followed by Akola (618), Wardha (442), Gondia (383), Bhandara (276), Hingoli (304) and Gadchiroli (82).

A day after the Maharashtra government’s 75 day free booster dose rollout, for the 18-60 age group, as a part of the centre’s Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav initiative to celebrate India’s independence, seven districts that saw zero booster doses administered and six districts that saw only single digit booster doses administered till July 14, recorded a multi-fold rise on July 15, day one of the free booster dose drive.

A health worker inoculates a beneficiary with free booster shot, Vashi, in Navi Mumbai (Bachchan Kumar/ HT PHOTO)

The booster dose for the 18-60 age group was started on April 10 in private vaccination centres. According to the state health officials, absence of private vaccination centres in these areas led to zero or single digit booster doses being administered in these districts. Sindhudhurg, one of the seven districts having zero booster doses administered till July 14, saw 914 precautionary doses administered, followed by Akola (618), Wardha (442), Gondia (383), Bhandara (276), Hingoli (304) and Gadchiroli (82).

“There are not too many private hospitals in these districts. In that too, not many vaccination centres. This is one major reason why we saw no uptake in these districts since April 10,” said Dr Sachin Desai. Desai also added that many people in these districts were also skeptical about paying for the booster dose.

State health officials said loss due to doses expiring in the month of March-April also kept many private hospitals away from participating in the booster dose drive for the 18-60 age group. There are only 16 private vaccination centres in Akola district, catering to a population of 12 lakh in the 18-60 age demographic.

Private hospitals were hesitant to keep vaccines for booster doses after they experienced loss due to vaccine expiry in March-April, said Dr Manish Sharma, Akola district immunisation officer. “Not many private hospitals were keen to buy new stock of vaccines though we had many enquiries from people for the booster dose. We tried pursuing the private hospitals too,” he said. The district has 195 government vaccination centres.

Districts like Dhule, which saw only 3 booster doses till July 14, had a stock of 2,333 booster doses for the 18-60 age group on Friday.

Ravi Duggal, a public health researcher and activist, said the government discriminated by asking the 18-60 age group to pay for the booster doses, which resulted in low uptake till July 14. “The rise in boosters doses uptake after they were made free clearly shows that people want to take the vaccine but are not willing to pay. The government should continue to keep the booster dose in the public set-up even after the end of 75 days. Vaccination is for the larger good,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai, with 12,730 booster doses, had the highest booster doses uptake in the state on day one, followed by Thane (10,143), Palghar (9,331) and Pune (8,294).

“We are taking reviews from all the districts seeing the high demand for booster doses. Accordingly we will place an order for more stock. It looks like we will require an additional 20 to 30 lakh doses for the 75 days free vaccination campaign. Right now we have 27 lakh Covishield and 30 lakh of Covaxin doses,” said Dr Desai. On day two, the city saw 20,530 booster doses. Seeing the rise in demand for the booster dose, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked for an additional 6 lakh doses for the 75 day vaccination drive as it has doses lasting for next 5 days.

Latest genome data

The latest genome sequencing report showed 35 Covid-19 recovered patients from Pune had BA.4 and BA.5 subvariant while 8 had BA.2.75 subvariant. The genome sequencing was done at BJ Medical College, Pune and the samples were taken between May 31 to June 30. With the latest report, the state’s tally of BA.4 and BA.5 patients stands at 113 and that of BA.2.75 patients to 40.

Covid cases data

The state reported 2382 new cases and 8 deaths on Saturday. Mumbai registered 282 new cases with one death- a 24-year-old male with comorbidity and substance abuse history.