PUNE: After almost a month of low vaccination rate since mid-October, inoculation count in Maharashtra has surged once again with the state administering the highest daily jabs in nearly a month, on November 13,15 and 16.
Health department vaccination data showed that the per day jabs administered crossed 7 lakh for the first time on Saturday and Monday since October 18. The state administered 6.6 lakh shots till Tuesday evening. The daily jabs in the past few days, barring Sunday (usually a lean day), have thus been highest since some time now.
State immunization officer Dr Sachin Desai told TOI that the current target was to complete all the first doses in Maharashtra by November-end. “Accordingly, a daily target of 10 lakh jabs is being kept in sight,” he said.
Currently, the state is yet to cover nearly 24% of its 9.14 crore eligible population with first jabs. Dr Desai said, “In the last two days, Maharashtra’s daily jabs have increased, the average being higher than almost a month. The ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ programme was started last week and took some time to pick up momentum as the districts were still collating data on the left-out beneficiaries. We have covered 76% of the eligible population with first doses in the state, and aim to cover the rest by this month-end. Maharashtra is expected to keep up the current level of daily jabs.”
The daily average for shots administered in the state had plunged to 3-4 lakh since October third week, owing to the festive season and the huge gap (84 days) between the first and second doses of Covishield and fall in beneficiaries’ footfalls at the inoculation sites.
Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director (medical), Pune circle, however, said the number of jabs administered in Pune in the last couple of days had not shown any major improvement, being nearly 35,000 on average. “However, conditions may improve during the next four to five days not only as the pace of the programme picks up but also because the November-end period is likely to see a huge number of beneficiaries becoming due for their second shots,” he said.
An official from the district health department, Thane, said the district administered over 64,000 jabs on Monday, with the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ programme being on. “Surveys are on at the village and city level to find the first and second dose beneficiaries. We are organizing separate vaccination camps in areas that have a higher number of beneficiaries for the pending vax doses. The programme picked up pace since Monday,” he said.
