1 in 2 persons in Maharashtra has received at least 1 Covid jab

PUNE: Nearly six months after the Covid vaccination programme started, every second person aged over 18 years in Maharashtra has received at least one dose and nearly one-fourth of the eligible beneficiaries have been fully inoculated.
Latest data from the state health department revealed that over 5.36 crore people aged above 18, or 58% of the target population, have received the first dose of the vaccine till September 21.The data revealed that 2.13 crore people, or 23% of the target population, have received the second dose as well.

Mumbai and Pune districts lead in administering the first dose of the vaccine (over 80%) while Hingoli and Nanded districts in Marathwada have the poorest record (less than 40%) in the category. Mumbai, Pune and Sindhurdurg districts ensured full vaccination of more than 35% of their respective populations, the data revealed.
Health authorities across the state were trying to expand the coverage. Nashik’s Covid vaccine coordinator and deputy collector Ganesh Misal said the local administration was striving to fully vaccinate its 51.75 lakh beneficiaries by the end of this year, provided the supply of vaccines was smooth.
“There were days when we vaccinated over 80,000 beneficiaries on a single day. Vaccines were available then. Our target is achievable since there is no more vaccine hesitancy among the beneficiaries,” added Misal.
Stating that the Aurangabad civic administration has been getting sufficient vaccine doses, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation’s health officer Dr Neeta Padalkar said citizens should come forward to get inoculated without any fear or hesitancy.
Kolhapur district authorities said their lead in vaccination has helped in reducing the number of Covid cases. “We have observed that the areas where the vaccination turnout was the highest now have very few Covid cases.
Almost 70% of the population have received at least the first dose of the Covid vaccine,” said Kolhapur zilla parishad health officer Yogesh Sale.
(With inputs from Ranjan Dasgupta in Nashik & Prasad Joshi in Aurangabad)