PUNE: State immunization authorities on Sunday said that their focus will be on the inclusion of maximum beneficiaries in the next Covid-19 vaccination drive. The drive will resume from Tuesday across the same vaccination sites that were used on Saturday.
Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy director of health Pune region, confirmed that the vaccination will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday and later this week on Friday and Saturday.
He said, “The focus will remain on inclusion of more beneficiaries, but it is a voluntary vaccination drive and health care workers should come forward on their own. We are sure, after a few more vaccination sessions, the number of people turning up for the jabs will increase. The response on the first day was good and we expect to keep the same tempo in the coming sessions as well.”
He added that there are doubts among beneficiaries, but the authorities are hoping for a gradual increase in the response.
Meanwhile, the head of Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) health department Ashish Bharati on Sunday said that the vaccination drive will start from Tuesday across eight centres. The drive will be conducted from 9am onwards. Each centre will cater to 100 beneficiaries.
“The preparations for data updation and registrations will be carried out via the CoWin app on priority. The application is working properly at five out of eight centres. The remaining centres will be updated by tomorrow. Even a backup system for online registration will be kept ready,” said Bharati.
Notably, on Saturday January 16, around 61% beneficiaries received Covishield and Covaxin vaccines across Pune rural region, while 55% were vaccinated across areas under PMC and 57% across Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.