E-Paper
Covid vax drive on the wane in Pune district
PUNE To keep a third wave of Covid-19 infections at bay, vaccination is a must, as per experts in the city, state and country
PUNE To keep a third wave of Covid-19 infections at bay, vaccination is a must, as per experts in the city, state and country. However, due to a limited stock of vaccines available, the district’s vaccination drive has been on the wane. On August 1, total vaccinations were as low as 7,800 for the day.
The total daily vaccination count in the district has not crossed the 50,000 mark in August, so far, while that number was at 80,000 on some days in July.
Private centres in the city are also reporting fewer vaccinations as unvaccinated beneficiaries prefer to wait for free vaccines to be available at the government centres.
On Thursday, only Covaxin was available in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) area, as Covishield was out of stock. On Thursday, seven vaccination centres were administering Covaxin in the city limits.
(UPDATE FROM PMC WILL BE ADDED)
Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director (medical), Pune circle, said vaccine stock is expected on August 6.
“All the vaccines have been distributed to the district health department. We received the last stock of Covishield and Covaxin on August 3. The next batch is due on August 6,” said Dr Deshmukh.
He added that there are around 12 private hospitals that were supplied vaccine doses through the health department.
“As these hospitals have smaller demands they register through the Cowin application and we supply them the doses. Private hospitals with larger demands buy the vaccine directly from the manufacturer,” said Dr Deshmukh.
Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, medical director at Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital said that the response so far from beneficiaries has been good.
“We are inoculating at least 200 to 300 first-dose beneficiaries each day. And we have a stock of 30,000 vaccines. The second dose will start from August 15 for beneficiaries who have taken the first jab with us,” said Dr Kelkar.
So far, a total of 6,365,390 beneficiaries have received the vaccine. Of these, across all age groups, 3,837,176 have received a first dose and 2,528,214 have received the second dose of the vaccine in Pune district.
Total vaccination in Pune district so far, is at 74 per cent. In PMC, total inoculation is at 93 per cent, while in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) total inoculation is at 51 per cent. In Pune rural, total inoculation is at 65 per cent, as per authorities.
August 4
Total vaccinations in Pune district – 49,022
Covishield—39,321
Covaxin—8,808
Sputnik V--893
Vaccinations at government sites—39,635
Vaccinations at private sites—9,387
August 3
Total vaccinations in Pune district—19,693
Covishield—14,578
Covaxin—4,240
Sputnik V--875
Vaccination at government sites—11,563
Vaccination at private sites—8,130
August 2
Total vaccinations in Pune district—29,081
Covishield—23,618
Covaxin—4,541
Sputnik V--922
Vaccinations at government sites—19,175
Vaccinations at private sites—9,906
August 1
Total vaccinations in Pune district—7,800
Covishield—6,063
Covaxin—1,174
Sputnik V--563
Vaccinations at government sites—2,595
Vaccinations at private sites—5,205
Source: District Health Department
