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Few takers for booster dose in Pune district
As the number of COVID cases has gone down significantly, people in the Pune district have avoided taking booster doses with only 9.8 lakh opting for the preventive vaccination
As the number of COVID cases has gone down significantly, people in the Pune district have avoided taking booster doses with only 9.8 lakh opting for the preventive vaccination.
However, on Wednesday, district collector Rajesh Deshmukh held a meeting with the COVID task force in which he insisted on increasing vaccination centres in the district. Dr Deshmukh directed health officers during the review meeting to accelerate preventive measures and review system preparedness in the state and Pune district.
About the measures, Deshmukh said, “Administrative and health systems in the district should remain prepared as per the instructions of the central government.”
The meeting was held via video conferencing and was also attended by Ankit Goyal, Pune rural superintendent of police (SP), district surgeon Nagnath Yampalle and district health officer Dr Bhagwan Pawar.
Reacting to the current situation, Dr Pawar said 50 patients in the district are recuperating from COVID, with an average of 11 patients recovering daily.
According to statistics, 99.5 lakh people in the district have received the first dose, while only 9.8 lakh have taken the preventive booster dose.
As per to Dr Sanjay Patil, chairperson of the IMA’s Hospital Board of India, “We have seen how vaccination has benefited citizens in the fight against COVID, so, whoever is eligible for a booster should be taking it just to be on the safer side. “
For COVID-related measures, 114 PSA oxygen plants and 109 liquid oxygen storage tanks are available in the district with a total capacity of 1,210 metric tonnes. Aside from that, the district has a total of 5,401 isolation beds, 5,964 oxygen beds, and 1,293 ICU beds.
Symbiosis University Hospital CEO Dr Vijay Natarajan stated, “When the booster dose was announced, we were in the middle of the third wave. Because the third wave was less severe than the first two, most people skipped the booster dose. Because of the large number of infections in China, there is a rising concern that a new variant could emerge. As a result, people have begun to flock back to vaccination centres.”
“I was hesitant to take the booster dose, but now everyone is talking about the new variant, so I have decided to opt for the booster dose,” Vikram Sharma, a Sadashiv Peth resident said.
