More than 1cr people delay 2nd dose; govt concerned

Pune: Over a crore of beneficiaries are yet to take their second dose of Covid vaccines in the state, prompting the health department to tell the local administrations to convince these people to take it at the earliest.
Nearly 1.14 crore residents have delayed their second dose, according to the updated figures of the state public health department.As many as 97.61 lakh beneficiaries have not taken their second dose of Covishield despite becoming eligible for it, while 17.32 lakh have skirted their second shot of Covaxin.
The long second dose due list has become a major concern of the state government in the wake of the rising Covid cases in Maharashtra. The state immunisation officials claimed that they had made considerable efforts to create awareness about the vaccines and reached homes in every district to bring out people for the second dose, but the results had not been satisfactory.
“We have been repeatedly drawing up the list of the beneficiaries due for the second shot and sharing it with the districts concerned. It is up to the districts to take its cognisance and follow up with the beneficiaries through their nodal officers,” said a senior official of the state health department.
Pune, Nashik, Thane, Mumbai and Nagpur have the highest number of beneficiaries missing their second dose of Covishield. Buldhana, Amravati, Washim, Yavatmal and Nanded have the largest number of people due for the second shot of Covaxin.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had on Saturday said though the state had not made it mandatory, the government’s intention was to ensure that all the beneficiaries took both the doses of Covid vaccines. He had said one should understand that s/he cannot pose risk to others by not getting fully vaccinated and the state administration would continue to reach out to such people.
An average of 3-5 lakh beneficiaries were being vaccinated in a day in the state in the last 10 days — a big drop from 8-9 lakh daily vaccinations last month. The first dose vaccination coverage in the state is above 90%. It is 66% for the second shot.
The state immunisation officer, Dr Sachin Desai, said the state had so far utilised 1.5 crore doses of Covid vaccines. He also said the state had nearly 1 crore pending doses of Covishield and 20 lakh doses of Covaxin, which should suffice till the end of this month.