Pune: Golden generation sees silver lining in vaccine

PUNE: Widespread confusion and chaos marked day one of the vaccine drive for senior citizens and those over 45 with comorbidities in Pune district. Scores who turned up early on Monday said the authorities had not set aside enough infrastructure for this group of citizens, who are now being vaccinated along with healthcare and frontline workers. In the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR), the PMC had four hospital sites, the PCMC eight and the rural parts 20.
Despite the confusion, the enthusiasm among the 60-plus recipients to take the vaccine was high. As many as 460 people from this group were vaccinated in Pune district as against just 29 in the 45-plus group.
At Sutar Hospital in Kothrud, 97-year-old Pratibha Kulkarni proudly showed off her recipient form. At Aundh hospital, which administered Covaxin, 89-year-old Vanmala Deshmukh, mother of Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy director of health services, Pune region, was among the recipients.
Many others said they were waiting for the early rush to ease. “Of course I’m going to get the vaccine,” said 85-year-old Ashok Kamath, a resident of Kothrud. “I’ll wait for a few days. I’m sure the situation will improve. We’re all eager to get the shot.”
Maharashtra registered 3,777 vaccinations in the 60-plus group and 946 in the 45-plus (with comobordities) category. In the 60-plus group, Nagpur saw 544 vaccinations, Nashik 324 and Aurangabad 317.
The PMC sites were hit by CoWIN niggles almost immediately. Vaccinations could start only at 3pm at Sutar hospital in Kothrud and at 1.30pm at Sassoon hospital. The other two hospital sites in the PMC, Kamala Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi, also experienced similar problems.
At Kamala Nehru, a row broke out between site administrators and citizens who had turned up early for their jabs.
Baner resident Niranjan Sinha (63) and wife Gita, who arrived at the hospital at 11.30am, got inoculated only at 3.40pm. The couple's daughter said it was a harrowing experience. “We were the first in queue in the morning. But soon, two other queues of police and PMC staff started forming and they were being let in before us,” she said.
CoWIN glitches impacted sites in Pimpri Chinchwad too, even though the PCMC recorded 204 vaccinated senior citizens, the highest in the Pune Metropolitan Region.
Pankaj Bheda, a resident of Rahatni who arrived at Jijamata hospital (Pimpri) with his 71-year-old father and 65-year-old mother, said his parents ended up returning without their jabs.
“I had registered my parents through the CoWIN website in the morning. Over 15 centres were listed but only Jijamata was operational. My parents’ names were in the system, but a message then stated they cannot be vaccinated.”
PCMC commissioner, Rajesh Patil said that it will take a few days for the system to stabilize. “Crowding will no longer be an issue once the number of sites increases,” he said.
Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy director of health services, Pune region, said problems will ease once more staff are trained. “Many hardly had two hours of hands-on training. Bear with us for some time. Once private hospitals come into the picture, it will be a different scenario.”
Public health experts also expressed disappointment at server glitches.
Dr Jayesh Lele, national secretary of the Indian Medical Association said several of his patients who tried to register on the CoWIN website were not able to get through because of a “server down” error.
State IMA president Dr Avinash Bhondwe said technical glitches continue to be a concern as many of his patients could not book slots.