Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar (File) While acknowledging the utility of the booster dose of Covid-19 vaccines, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday said that the Pune district administration will make it available only after the entire eligible population has been fully vaccinated with two doses. Pawar, who chaired the weekly Covid-19 review meeting at Pune’s council hall, said that the district administration has also decided to give priority to second dose vaccination for now.
“After consulting the medical experts, the administration has decided to prioritise delivering second doses to those who have received the first dose, instead of inoculating unvaccinated. As per experts, those who have received the first dose must receive the second dose within the prescribed time limit, if not the effectiveness of the vaccine may suffer. The remaining population will be vaccinated after this population has been fully vaccinated,” Pawar told reporters after the Covid-19 review meeting.
“Only after the eligible population in all the districts have received both the doses can we think of administering booster doses. However, those who can buy them in private can get them,” said Pawar.
As of August 18, a total of 70 lakh doses have been administered in the Pune district of which 51.40 were first doses and 18.65 second doses. Pune city has given 31.33 lakh doses, Pimpri-Chinchwad 12.98 lakh, Pune rural in 25.74 lakh
Pawar said that in Pune District, there are 898 government-run vaccination centres and 440 private centres. On Friday, 1.93 doses were available in the district.
He said that the administration was in talks with both Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to get additional doses for the district.
“Saurabh Rao has spoken to Adar Poonawalla in this regard and if Serum can spare some additional vaccine for Pune, considering that it’s the home city for the company and its founders, we will use those to vaccinate slum-dwellers,” said Pawar. He said that a similar request will be made to Bharat Biotech after its Pune plant becomes operational.
The weekly positivity rate for Covid-19 has come down to 3.3 per cent for Pune District. In Pune city it is 2.5 per cent, PCMC it is 3.1 and in Pune Rural it is 3.9 per cent.
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