Only five per cent or 2,895 of the 57,264 registered FLWs vaccinated in PMC

PUNE As compared with the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation (PCMC) and Pune rural, Pune has recorded an abysmal rate of vaccination for frontline workers (FLWs) and healthcare workers (HCWs)

PUNE As compared with the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation (PCMC) and Pune rural, Pune has recorded an abysmal rate of vaccination for frontline workers (FLWs) and healthcare workers (HCWs).

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The administration is now aiming to undertake confidence building measures to improve the numbers.

Pune city has reported the least number of FLWs who have been vaccinated, from among the three local authorities, which include PCMC and Pune rural.

As per data from the district health office, until February 21, only five per cent or 2,895 of the 57,264 registered FLWs have been vaccinated. In PCMC this number stands at 34% of the 12,000 beneficiaries, which is 4,048.

Pune rural has recorded 71% of the 14,890 registered FLWs being vaccinated.

While there are 100 departments that have registered over 57,000 FLWs in Pune city, the Pune municipal corporation (PMC) alone has 40,000 FLWs, of which only 4,000 have been vaccinated so far.

In terms of health care workers (HCW) too, the city lags behind with only 54% of the registered 56,000 beneficiaries having been vaccinated.

In PCMC, 67% of the 17, 636 beneficiaries have been vaccinated and 75% of the 32,815 beneficiaries have got the jab in rural Pune.

The district’s average stands at 63% for HCWs and 21% for FLWs who have been vaccinated, of those that have registered.

Despite having more session sites than PCMC (eight), Pune city (29) has not been able to vaccinate as much.

A senior official from the PMC health department said, “We are now writing letters to all HODs within the PMC and also various other agencies who have registered FLWs, to encourage them to take up the vaccination. We have allowed walk-in vaccinations at our session sites, but most of the registered FLWs are unaware.”

PMC has 42,000 registered FLWs of which most are from ward offices; 1,500 from the education department; and 1,700 from the security department.

“Till now we have vaccinated just about 4,000 of our own employees,” the official said.

The low turnout in vaccination could be because of lack of confidence among FLWs said divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao, on Sunday during a press meet.

Rao said, “The vaccination percentage has been low in the city, especially among frontline workers and so we are creating awareness through daily video conferencing and also through media. Also, we have got complaints from private health care workers that many names are missing and there are technical problems with the CoWin app. We will start with the re-enrolment process soon.”