Vaccination drive in Maharashtra’s Thane rises by 4% in 10 days

3.19 million among Thane’s 9.9 million eligible population have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 2.2 million of these have received a single dose, while 900,000 have been fully vaccinated

The Covid vaccination drive in Maharashtra’s Thane district has received a shot in the arm with the administration of 360,000 doses in the last 10 days—a 4% spike across the district, officials said. It was made possible due to allocation of more than 200,000 vaccine doses in each of the last two weeks.

Thane Municipal Corporation has covered 1 million population in the vaccination drive by administering at least one dose to 470,000 women and 530,000 men. (HT Photo)

The increase in supply of doses has helped in inoculating more than 15,000 people on a daily basis, which even went up to 80,000 beneficiaries on two separate days, officials said.

The vaccination drive picked up in the district after more than a month, ending a period when around 50,000 doses were being supplied in one or two instalments a week, much less than the demand.

3.19 million among the district’s 9.9 million eligible population have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 2.2 million of these have received a single dose, while 900,000 have been fully vaccinated.

“On August 26 and August 29, we received 153,000 and 78,000 vaccine doses respectively; this has helped conduct vaccination drives across the district without any hurdles. In the current situation, when only fully vaccinated are permitted to travel by trains or visit public places, there is an increased demand for vaccination. Moreover, residents in the 18 to 45 age group who got their first dose in May and June are now due for their second jab, leading to a further rise in demand for vaccine doses across the district,” said Dr Manish Renge, Thane’s district health officer.

Despite the increase in supply of vaccines, demand in densely populated civic bodies like Thane, Kalyan and Dombivli continues to be very high. Thane Municipal Corporation has covered 1 million population by administering at least one vaccine dose to 470,000 women and 530,000 men.

Despite the increased availability of doses, long queues are seen in many of Thane city’s 65 vaccination centres. Special sessions are being organized for those travelling abroad for work or studies. Till now, the city has vaccinated 395 pregnant women, 43 lactating mothers, 17 bedridden residents and 411 transgenders, officials said.

“Our mobile vaccination facility has been posted in different parts of the city and we ensure that the destitute are also vaccinated through this facility. Moreover, we organised a special facility for teachers, health care workers and frontline workers at Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa and Parking plaza on Thursday. We do have sufficient infrastructure to vaccinate 50,000 beneficiaries daily but we are currently relying on the vaccine supply from the state government and plan our vaccination drive accordingly,” said Dr Vipin Sharma, commissioner, TMC.

Overall, the city has fully vaccinated 11.3% of its population in the 18-60 year age group while 23% in this group have got their first dose. A senior doctor described this age group as “the moving population” and said vaccinating it was crucial to reducing the chances of a third wave of Covid infections.

“Once the moving population is fully vaccinated, the impact of the third wave can easily be controlled,” said Dr Tejas Ghude, Pulmonologist, Thane.