Maharashtra set to miss 100% first dose deadline

Maharashtra is set to miss its deadline of inoculating all 91.4 million eligible beneficiaries in the state with the first dose by November 30

Maharashtra is set to miss its target of inoculating all 91.4 million eligible beneficiaries in the state with the first dose by November 30. As per the CoWin dashboard – the central database of all vaccination information in India – Maharashtra had administered 71,741,672 first doses until November 23, which is 19.65 million (or 21.51%) short of the target.

As per the CoWin dashboard – the central database of all vaccination information in India – Maharashtra had administered 71,741,672 first dose until November 23, which is 19.65 million (or 21.51%) short of the target and deadline. (HT PHOTO)

On November 2, ahead of a vaccination review meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had announced that the state should complete 100 percent first dose coverage by November 30. “Vaccination tends to prevent infection and also blunts the effects of virus,” he said then. “Citizens should take both the doses. Even though cases have been coming down, the threat of Covid-19 still exists and we cannot let our guard down.”

On Tuesday, November 23, senior state officials said they may have to revise the target date to December 15.

To achieve the target by November 30, the state will have to administer 2.8 million jabs a day in the next seven days. It looks unlikely, though. In the last 32 days, (October 22 to November 22), the state averaged 428,467 doses a day. State immunisation officer Dr Sachin Desai said Diwali festivities at the beginning of the month led to a dip in vaccination, but it has gained pace in the last few days. On November 23, the state administered 716,571 doses, according to the CoWin dashboard.

The state’s tally for both doses is 108,445,421, of which 36,703,749 are fully vaccinated beneficiaries.

A senior official added that till November 4, the number of first doses administered daily was more than the second dose. Since then, the second dose numbers have exceeded the first dose. “This is mainly due to the long gap (84 days) between the two Covishield vaccine doses,” the official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media. “Those who took their shot in August and September are due now. Besides, there is vaccine hesitancy to some degree in some communities. District administrations have been directed to employ initiatives and programmes to tackle this,” he added.

Earlier in November, state health minister Rajesh Tope said the government had roped in actor Salman Khan to help overcome the perceived vaccine hesitancy in the Muslim community. Last week, the actor released a video urging people to not fall prey to rumours about Covid vaccines, and encouraged them to get inoculated at the earliest. HT reached out to Tope over the phone and text messages, but he was unavailable for a comment.

According to state officials, vaccination numbers are low in tribal-dominated districts such as Palghar, Nandurbar, Gadchiroli and Amravati. Dr Desai, the state immunisation officer, added that besides hesitancy, citizens are not as worried as they used to be due to the drop in daily cases.

“Vaccine apprehension may have reduced, but people have also become lax now due to low viral activity,” Desai said. “In tribal areas, the post-Dussehra migration could be a factor for the low numbers. We have adequate stock of vaccines and syringes. We will achieve 100% first dose coverage by next month, if not at the end of November.”

According to senior health department officials, the vaccination drive – which began on January 16 this year – is lagging in several districts. Twenty-two of the 36 districts in the state have lower first dose coverage than the state’s average. Akola, Nandurbar, Beed and Amravati, for instance, have vaccinated only around 55% of the eligible population with the first dose, while the state’s coverage is 78.49%.

Struggling to expand vaccination coverage, Aurangabad’s district administration had earlier directed fair price shops, gas agencies and petrol pumps to check vaccination certificates of customers. The district collector had recently also ordered that people who have not taken a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will not be allowed entry at historic sites and monuments in the city. Other districts, too, have announced similar restrictions on unvaccinated residents. Dhule and Nandurbar have prohibited the entry of the unvaccinated people in government buildings, while in Chandrapur, shopkeepers have put posters declaring entry for vaccinated people only. Some districts have even restricted entry in banks.

However, the state government does not plan to enforce vaccination on its citizens. The senior anonymous official quoted above added, “Central government has said that vaccination is voluntary. The local administration is free to execute initiatives and incentive-based approaches to boost their numbers. The state government is unlikely to make it mandatory.”