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Pune sees vaccination picking up pace in 18-45 group
Pune: With vaccination stock once again in short supply in many districts of Maharashtra, Pune has managed to inoculate more number of persons in 18-45 age group as compared to 45-60 age bracket
Pune: With vaccination stock once again in short supply in many districts of Maharashtra, Pune has managed to inoculate more number of persons in 18-45 age group as compared to 45-60 age bracket.
As per the district health report, as of Wednesday noon, Pune city has seen over 1.67 million vaccinations as against the estimated number of 3.5 million estimated beneficiaries. This includes first and second dose Covid vaccination. Pune city has also seen a massive vaccination drive in private hospitals which boosted the drive especially among the younger population aged 18-45.
While more than 0.369 million have got the first shot among 45-60, 0.310 milion have got it in the age group of above 60, 83,000 in the frontline workers category and 64,000 in the health care workers category, the highest first doses have been administered in the age group of 18-45 years where over 0.484 million have got the jab.
Dr Vaishali Jadhav, officer in charge of Covid vaccination, said, “The estimated population is wrong since Pune city has about 3.5 million people eligible for the Covid vaccine, the district administration needs to update it. We have 15 wards and each of the wards have at least 0.2 million eligible beneficiaries which itself makes it more than 3 million.”
However, Dr Sachin Edake, district immunisation officer, said, “The estimated population is as per the 2011 census and it is yet to be updated. I have asked the PMC and PCMC and also the rural administration to provide updated figures but I am yet to get the exact numbers. As of now, the district’s population is more than 10 million, however, as per our dashboard it shows an estimated population close to only 5.7 million.”
The Pune city will further boost its reach by starting a door-to-door vaccination drive which would be a pilot project in the state. Additional municipal commissioner Rubal Agarwal said, “Yes, we have been told about it but we are yet to get official guidelines on it. As of now PMC is already conducting a special vaccination drive through its ‘Vaccine on Wheels’ initiative wherein beneficiaries with special needs are vaccinated at one designated location which could be a home or a hospital or a special rehabilitation center. With regards to door-to-door, we are yet to receive the order and other details.”
On Wednesday, the state government informed the Bombay high court that a special door-to-door vaccination drive for those bedridden or specially abled who cannot reach the vaccination center will be started and a pilot experiment would begin from Pune city. Similar to the initiative for students wanting to study abroad when details were sought through mail by the civic body, details about such beneficiaries could also be sought and informed the state advocate general.
PMC’s Covid vaccination drive in slums will begin from July 5
To boost the vaccination drive, PMC’s standing committee has also approved Covid-19 vaccination drive in slums. In the first wave the most affected number of Covid patients were from the slum area. However, in the second wave, the slums were not much affected which could have led to vaccine hesitancy. Also, the lack of internet literacy could have affected the vaccine drive in the slums.
On Tuesday, the standing committee approved the vaccination drive in slums which will include on spot registration for slum dwellers. Hemant Rasne, chairman of the PMC standing committee, said that centres will be set up in the slums of Pune to provide corona vaccine to the slum dwellers in their area free of cost.
Rasne said, “The members of the standing committee had discussed this issue in the last two meetings. Corporators had informed about the difficulties encountered for corona vaccination in slum areas in this regard. A detailed discussion was held with the administration in the standing committee today. At this time, the administration approved to vaccinate all the slums in the city offline. Municipal centres will be made available in all the settlements. There is no need to register online to get vaccinated at this centre. Citizens can go to the centre and get vaccinated offline. The decision has been taken to ensure that slum dwellers are not deprived of vaccinations.”. The second dose will be available at this center for those who have taken the first dose along with the first dose, said Rasne.
Additional municipal commissioner Rubal Agarwal said, “We have asked officials to identify vaccination spots at the 390 slums in the city which have about 0.7 million population as per our records. Of these about 0.45 million are aged above 18 years and even if 50,000 have got the jab already we still have about 0.4 million people who have to be vaccinated who can be covered in this drive.”
Officials said citizens in this densely populated area have misconceptions about vaccination. Awareness will be raised to address their doubts and speed up vaccination. For this, the participation of social and voluntary organizations in the area will be done. Posters, banners, leaflets, pamphlets and microphones will also be used to create awareness among the citizens. It is likely that these centers will soon be operational in hospitals, health centers, dispensaries, schools and anganwadis in the area.
