Covid vax drive gains pace, 1.84 mn doses administered in Pune dist in December

PUNE As the Covid-19 cases is increasing, Pune district is reporting more vaccinations. After a drop in vaccinations in October and November, more doses were administered in December last year, as per data available on the Co-WIN dashboard.

In December more than 1,844,000 doses were administered in the Pune district as per the data available on the Co-WIN dashboard. Almost 104% of the population is vaccinated with the first dose and 75% of the eligible population is now vaccinated with both doses.

Currently, Pune district is in the second spot in the state in terms of vaccinating the eligible population, while Mumbai stands in the first place.

“As the threat of Omicron is looming, the flow of people at the vaccination centres has increased. In the last two months (October-November) response had dropped, but now people have started taking their shots,” said additional district health officer Dr Abhay Tidke, Pune Zilla Parishad.

As per the numbers available on the Co-WIN portal in August and September almost 1.75 million and 2.55 million doses were administered in the district respectively. But this response dropped in the subsequent months. In October and November, almost 1.6 million and 1.1 million doses were administered respectively. With more than 1.8 million doses being administered in December, vaccination again gained pace. One more contributing factor for the rise in the numbers is the targeted efforts by the administration to encourage people to get the jab and to remove vaccine hesitancy.

“Now we are tracking those who are eligible for the second dose. As new beneficiaries are coming up the numbers are updated. Some beneficiaries hesitate in taking the second dose. So, in our blocks and in our health facilities, we have prepared the lists of beneficiaries who are due and they are distributed in the centres where they had taken the first dose. We have arranged call centres and daily one call is made to them to take a second dose. But some of these people have migrated or are now in different districts,” said Dr Tidke.

The overall vaccination number in the state has also increased in December. As per Co-WIN 19,144,408, vaccine doses were administered in the state in December. And 87.16% eligible population in the state has received the first dose and 57% of the eligible population has received both of the doses.