In Pune district, 1st-jab coverage has reached only 37% of target

PUNE: Out of the 57 lakh eligible beneficiaries in the district, only 21 lakh (37%) have been given a dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, data compiled till June 1 has shown.
Civic officials in the PMR said coverage would have been wider if supply of vaccines to the region was steady. They said shortages have slowed down the vaccine drive, which had considerable momentum till early April.

Coverage data provided by the District Health Office revealed that out of the total 21 lakh beneficiaries given first doses, rural Pune had over 9 lakh recipients while the PMC and PCMC had 8.32 and 3.2 lakh recipients respectively within their limits. Importantly, only 5.95 lakh people (just 10% of the target population) have received second doses in the district.
Rajesh Patil, chief of the PCMC, said, "“Our daily coverage had peaked to nearly 15,000 jabs per day. We had then decided to take it to 25,000 daily. But shortages have played spoilsport. We are still doing everything we can to improve coverage, but a streamlined vaccine supply is the only solution."
An official with the PMC said the civic body had set up such extensive vaccination infrastructure - with over 150 centres - that they could have achieved complete coverage of their target population within two months.
"But inconsistent vaccine supply caused irregularities in the vaccination drive. Sometimes, we have Covishield but not Covaxin doses. And on some days, it is the opposite. There were times when we didn't have enough of both," the official said.
Subhash Salunke, advisor to the state government on Covid-19 containment and former director-general of Health Services (Maharashtra), said that to tackle future surges of Covid, regional authorities have to ensure maximum possible vaccination coverage. "After all this time, we should have vaccinated at least 70% of the target number of citizens here. But we have been able to cover less than half.
He added that officials are set to ask the chief minister for more streamlined vaccine supply from the Centre.
On Thursday, vaccination coverage picked up with a total of 36,699 people inoculated across the district. On Wednesday, the number was just over 24,000.