Maharashtra vaccinates close to half a million beneficiaries

A total of 472,805 beneficiaries have been vaccinated in 14 sessions since January 16. Of them, 444,448 are healthcare workers (HCWs) and 25,600 are frontline workers (FLWs).

Maharashtra has inoculated close to half a million beneficiaries in the nationwide vaccination drive, after 37,862 people received the shots on Saturday. A total of 472,805 beneficiaries have been vaccinated in 14 sessions since January 16. Of them, 444,448 are healthcare workers (HCWs) and 25,600 are frontline workers (FLWs). Maharashtra has around 800,000 HCWs and 580,000 FLWs registered on the CoWIN app, which has been developed by the Centre to manage the vaccination drive.

Police personnel and health workers wait to get vaccination shot at KEM Hospital in Mumbai on Saturday. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

The state had targeted 71,632 beneficiaries across 661 centres on Saturday, but achieved 53% of this target, according to the health department. Of the 37,862 inoculated on Saturday, 25,709 were HCWs and 12,153 were FLWs. There has been a steady rise in numbers since February 3, the first day of vaccination for FLWs, when 793 were vaccinated.

Of the total vaccinated beneficiaries in the state, 4,601 across six centres have received Covaxin, made by Bharat Biotech, with the highest number of recipients at Nagpur (1,204), Amravati (1,173) and Pune (678).

Across Mumbai’s 21 centres, 6,115 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Saturday and the city achieved 78% of its daily target. A total of 75,751 people have been inoculated across the island city and suburban Mumbai till date.

According to the health department, Yavatmal district reported the highest turnout (105%) in Maharashtra with 942 beneficiaries, exceeding its target of 900. High turnouts were also reported in Buldhana (83%), Nashik (80%), and Gondia (80%). Low turnouts were recorded at Latur (30%), Beed (31%) and Jalgaon (32%).

“We are expecting a rise in turnout of FLWs from next week. We are still facing issues of doubt among people over vaccines, which is affecting our daily targets,” said a senior official requesting anonymity. “From next week, we expect to start giving second shots of vaccine to HCWs who got the first shot 28 days ago. This will also help increase the daily turnout,” he added.

Each beneficiary is required to take two shots of the vaccine, with a gap of 28 days.

On Saturday, Maharashtra recorded 2,768 new cases of Covid-19, taking the state’s tally to 2,041,398. With 25 new reported deaths, the total death toll stands at 51,280. Officials said 17 of the 25 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours and eight were from last week. In Mumbai, 414 new cases were reported, taking the Covid tally to 311,433. Of these, 5,711 are active cases. Four deaths reported and the city’s total death toll from Covid-19 is 11,388.