E-Paper
Vax 1% of eligible population daily in Oct, state tells civic bodies
The state administration has instructed the district administration to further increase vax drive in October and cover more population given the upcoming festivities
PUNE Even as September saw the highest percentage of Covid-19 vaccinations, the state now aims to keep up the pace in October.
In September, on average, 750,000 people were vaccinated daily in the state. Now the health department aims vaccinate up to 900,000 people per day. The state has instructed that at least 1% of the eligible population of Pune district must be vaccinated daily.
Pune has an estimated eligible population of about 3.93 million and so the administration would have to vaccinate more than 30,000 people daily.
The district has seen its highest vaccination drive on July 31, when more than 234,000 beneficiaries got the jab. This is now the highest single-day vaccination number for any district in the state.
In September, along with Pune, many districts in the state saw a smooth supply of vaccines and so the issue of shortages has been resolved. However, a shortage of syringes is the new problem for the administration
The state administration has instructed the district administration to further increase the vaccination drive in October given the upcoming festivities.
Dr Pradip Vyas, principal secretary, Public Health Department, Maharashtra, in a letter dated October 4, said, “At present we have less than 36,000 active Covid cases in the State. This number is similar to the second week of February 2021, when the second Covid wave in our state started and ultimately peaked in the the last week of April, 2021. There is real apprehension that with the opening of the economy, increased activity, opening of schools/colleges and ensuing festive season, the number of Covid cases may increase by November 2021, if we are not very careful.”
The letter further states: ‘In this situation, it is important to further increase the pace of Covid vaccination in our state. We have vaccinated at an average rate of about 7.5 lakh doses per day in September, 2021. With increased availability of Covid vaccines we can easily achieve an average vaccination rate of up to 10 lakh doses per day in October, 2021. We must try to administer Covid vaccination doses equivalent to at least 1% of the eligible population of your district every day. So if the eligible population of the district is say 50 lakh, then 50,000 doses per day. These are minimum desirable levels and can be further scaled”.
