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Mission 100 days: Pune dist administration aims to inoculate all above 18 years
According to divisional commissioner, while the permission currently is for people above 45 years, looking at the performance of Pune district in aggressive vaccination, he is confident that others will soon get permission to get vaccinated
After a review meeting by deputy chief minister and Pune district guardian minister Ajit Pawar with district officials, and public representatives, the administration is now preparing to vaccinate all above 18 years in the next 100 days, a senior bureaucrat said on Friday.
“As per the plan, the administration will aggressively vaccinate everyone above 45 years in the first phase and then focus on all those above 18 years in Pune district,” said Pune divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao, adding there are a total of 74 lakh people to be inoculated by the government machinery in the district
“The administration hopes to vaccinate all in the next 100 days,” he said.
Currently, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporations, along with Zilla Parishad, have focused on increasing sites to vaccinate all above 45 years in April and the following months those aged between 44-18 years.
As part of the process, the district on Thursday saw a record number of people – over 57,000 – getting the jab.
According to Rao, while the permission currently is for people above 45 years, looking at the performance of Pune district in aggressive vaccination, he is confident that others will soon get permission to get vaccinated.
Rao said, “The current trend of Covid cases is likely to continue for the next four to five weeks as per health experts. Although there is no scientific evidence, it looks like if the cases continue to rise, then in the next two days, Pune might see over 9,000 new cases daily.”
“We will have maximum bed availability by April 5 after acquiring beds from private hospitals. However, if cases continue to surge, then we might have to declare a few more hospitals as dedicated Covid hospitals,” he said.
Rao said that the administration will start preparing to vaccinate all above 18 years, which will take about three to four months. He said, “We have about 28 lakh people in the district aged above 45 years with and without comorbidities, and so if we start vaccinating about one lakh people daily, then ideally it would take a month to vaccinate this age group.”
“The district vaccinated about 57,000 people on Thursday (April 1), which we hope to take to more than 80,000 in the next two days and then take it up to one lakh beneficiaries daily. Currently, Pune logs the highest daily vaccination in the country as compared to any district. The vaccination depends on the continuous supply of doses and also on the availability of the health infrastructure,” he said.
Following up on their previous proposal to vaccinate all above 18 years of age, Rao said, “We are awaiting a nod from the Centre, but on our end, we have started micro-management for the same.”
Rao also said that vaccination boosts confidence among people and that it has been found that even if someone gets the infection following vaccination, the symptoms are mild and more lives could be saved.
