Five out of the 36 districts in Maharashtra have reported a lower Covid-19 vaccination rate, and were hence a part of the video conference held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the collectors of 40 such districts of across the country. The PM instructed the district magistrates to ensure that 100% of the eligible beneficiaries receive at least one shot of the vaccine before the New Year, while chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has set a November 31 deadline for all districts in Maharashtra. While metros such as Pune and Mumbai are already on their way to achieving 100% vaccination, there are five districts in the state where less than 55% of the eligible beneficiaries have got their first dose as of Tuesday.
The said five worst-performing districts are Nandurbar, Akola, Beed, Buldhana and Amravati where 51.06%, 53.29%, 53.47%, 54.22% and 54.98% of the eligible beneficiaries have got their first dose, respectively. Also, less than 25% of the eligible beneficiaries in these five districts have got their second dose. Mumbai has reported the highest vaccination rate with 98.86% of the beneficiaries having received the first dose and 60.62% having received the second dose. In Pune, 94.09% of beneficiaries have got the first dose and 51.27% have got the second dose.
Manisha Khatri, district collector of Nandurbar, said, “During the video conference, the PM instructed us to ensure that 100% of the eligible beneficiaries get at least their first dose. Nandurbar has been receiving a steady flow of the vaccine since August now and over the past two days (November 1 and 2), while we had set a target of vaccinating at least 50,000 people - we were able to administer 60,000 doses. As of now, we have a temporary shortage of syringes which will be sorted out soon. Despite a huge tribal population, vaccine hesitancy is not an issue for us.”
However, connectivity remains a major challenge for the vaccination drive as most villages are not connected by proper roads. “We are now carrying out door-to-door vaccination because we have multiple small villages with 10 to 20 families or smaller hamlets located at faraway distances, and it is not a priority for them to leave a day’s wages and come for the sake of the vaccination. Road connectivity with these smaller villages is a problem. Also, most of these people are available only during evening hours after the day’s work and so we are planning the vaccination drive as per their convenience to meet our targets. We are also calling over 15,000 to 20,000 people daily through 50 or so of our staff members to follow-up on those who are due for their second dose. We have about one lakh people who are due for their second dose but have not taken it (both Covishield and Covaxin),” Khatri said.
{{/usCountry}}However, connectivity remains a major challenge for the vaccination drive as most villages are not connected by proper roads. “We are now carrying out door-to-door vaccination because we have multiple small villages with 10 to 20 families or smaller hamlets located at faraway distances, and it is not a priority for them to leave a day’s wages and come for the sake of the vaccination. Road connectivity with these smaller villages is a problem. Also, most of these people are available only during evening hours after the day’s work and so we are planning the vaccination drive as per their convenience to meet our targets. We are also calling over 15,000 to 20,000 people daily through 50 or so of our staff members to follow-up on those who are due for their second dose. We have about one lakh people who are due for their second dose but have not taken it (both Covishield and Covaxin),” Khatri said.
{{/usCountry}}During the video conference, the PM instructed the district collectors and administration to avoid becoming complacent during the festive season and ensure that every eligible beneficiary is vaccinated. The PM interacted with the district magistrates of over 40 districts in Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and other states with low vaccination coverage. “We are now preparing to take the vaccination campaign to each household. With the mantra of ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ (knock on every door), every household lacking the security net of a double dose of the vaccine will be approached. Develop micro strategies keeping in mind the experience so far to go for saturation of vaccination by addressing the gaps at the local level. You will have to do your best to take your districts nearer the national average. You can take more help from local religious leaders. I have always found leaders of all religions to be great advocates of vaccination,” the PM said during the video conference.