PUNE: More than 40 vaccination centres have been set up across Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune rural to ensure beneficiaries due for a
second dose of Covaxin get the shot.
Thirty of these sites are in Pune city — 16 of them are PMC-run. In Pimpri Chinchwad, officials said nine sites have been set up to administer the vaccine. Pune rural has been allowed four centres.
As per health services data, nearly 1.14 lakh people in the district have been administered Covaxin till April 13. The number includes senior citizens, people over 45, health workers and frontliners.
For days, during a district-wide shortage of Covishield in March, Covaxin had become the lead vaccine for first-time beneficiaries. The number of recipients surged during this period.
Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director (medical), Pune circle, said, “We are administering Covaxin as and when the doses are being provided by the Union government. We had received a large chunk of doses in the second week of March. At the time, several private hospitals had conducted their vaccination drives solely using Covaxin. Those beneficiaries are now due for their second dose and preparations have been made accordingly in the region.” Deshmukh said as of April 13, the district has nearly 55,999 doses of Covaxin in its reserves.
From this total, 34,334 doses are available for the PMC, 13,530 are available for the PCMC and 8,135 have been set aside for Pune rural.
An official with District Hospital, Aundh — the only dedicated Covaxin centre in the district — said since January 16, they have given the shot to more than 13,000 individuals, including senior citizens and those over 45 with underlying medical conditions.
“There was some apprehension early on, especially among healthcare workers. But our vaccination sessions have received a very good response. For the past few days, we have been vaccinating about 300 people every day,” the official said.
Ayush Prasad, chief executive officer of the zilla parishad, said officials are working to ensure seamless supply of the vaccine to all centres.