Hindustan Times: Mumbai: Tuesday, 31 May 2022.
Even as the state is yet to inoculate more than 10% or 10.9 million eligible beneficiaries for their first and 28.1 million for their second dose, more than 375,000 doses are due to expire between June 9 and July 31, a Right to Information (Act) query filed by HT has revealed.
The state government, however, has said that all doses will be utilised before their expiry as it has ramped up inoculation efforts through Har Ghar Dastak, an outreach programme, launched on November 3, 2021, and which enters its second phase on June 1.
The state has received 148 million doses (119,424,890 of Oxford AstraZeneca’s Covishield and 28,722,580 of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin) from the Centre since the national vaccination programme began last year. At present, the state has 6 million doses (6,086,725) of both in stock, of which 375,495 doses (of both brands) are due to expire by July 31, the response to the RTI query revealed.
Of the 100 million (101,417,000 to be precise) beneficiaries eligible for both doses in various age groups above 12, 91.4 million are above 18, 3.5 million are between 12 and 15 years and 6 million beneficiaries are in the 15-18 years age group.
As of May 23, there were over 91 million (91,435,000) beneficiaries above the age of 18, who are eligible for the third dose, the RTI response stated. The response further pointed out that nearly 89 million beneficiaries (88,806,993 to be accurate) are yet to take their precautionary or booster dose, and only 2.6 million (2,628,007) have taken theirs. To be sure, the number of beneficiaries for precautionary dose is dynamic, as beneficiaries become eligible only after they complete a nine-month mandatory gap following the second dose.
According to figures put out by the state’s daily bulletin, the daily inoculation rate in Maharashtra dropped to 60,602 in May (till May 29) from 114,994 in April. The rate, in fact, has seen a steady decline since December 2021, when it was 624,642. The state averaged 469,739 vaccinations a day in January and 268,309 a day in February.
“We have been vaccinating more than 70,000 beneficiaries every day and at this rate, we will use all doses due for expiry in the next few days. Till date, there has been no wastage on account of expired stock in the state. In fact, we have helped private hospitals utilise their stock, and vaccines from Vasai, Virar, Palghar and other districts was diverted to avoid wastage,” said Dr Sachin Desai, state immunisation officer, said.
“We are sure about the rise in the average inoculation in the coming days,” he said.
The Har Ghar Dastak programme involves healthcare and anganwadi workers encouraging beneficiaries for inoculation through a door-to-door campaign. But, an official from the state health department said, on condition of anonymity, that the programme has received a lukewarm response.
“We are launching the second phase of programme in which we are reaching out to beneficiaries. It is true that the response for the booster and second dose is lukewarm, but we are focusing on the area where the response is low,” he said.
Dr Gautam Bhansali, chief coordinator for private hospitals during Covid-19 pandemic, said that efforts are being made to increase vaccination rates. “A few doses in private hospitals were dumped due to their expiry a few months ago. The doses due to expire in the next few months in private and public hospitals will be used in the next few days as we are ramping up the vaccination aggressively. It is true that the vaccination rate has dwindled in the last few months, but we are launching special drives to encourage people to take doses,” he said.
“The government should allow the precaution dose at government facilities rather than restricting them to the private hospital. This will help them in increasing the vaccination,” Dr Avinash Bhondve, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said.
Among those yet to receive their first dose, Thane district led the list with 12.9 million, followed by Jalgaon (798,638), Nanded (721,977) and Nashik (642,268). Mumbai and Pune have inoculated 516,255 and 507,262 more beneficiaries respectively than their eligible population given the high floating population, the RTI response revealed. Mumbai has achieved 100% coverage of both doses, while Pune has still to inoculate half a million beneficiaries with the second dose.
Even as the state is yet to inoculate more than 10% or 10.9 million eligible beneficiaries for their first and 28.1 million for their second dose, more than 375,000 doses are due to expire between June 9 and July 31, a Right to Information (Act) query filed by HT has revealed.
The state government, however, has said that all doses will be utilised before their expiry as it has ramped up inoculation efforts through Har Ghar Dastak, an outreach programme, launched on November 3, 2021, and which enters its second phase on June 1.
The state has received 148 million doses (119,424,890 of Oxford AstraZeneca’s Covishield and 28,722,580 of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin) from the Centre since the national vaccination programme began last year. At present, the state has 6 million doses (6,086,725) of both in stock, of which 375,495 doses (of both brands) are due to expire by July 31, the response to the RTI query revealed.
Of the 100 million (101,417,000 to be precise) beneficiaries eligible for both doses in various age groups above 12, 91.4 million are above 18, 3.5 million are between 12 and 15 years and 6 million beneficiaries are in the 15-18 years age group.
As of May 23, there were over 91 million (91,435,000) beneficiaries above the age of 18, who are eligible for the third dose, the RTI response stated. The response further pointed out that nearly 89 million beneficiaries (88,806,993 to be accurate) are yet to take their precautionary or booster dose, and only 2.6 million (2,628,007) have taken theirs. To be sure, the number of beneficiaries for precautionary dose is dynamic, as beneficiaries become eligible only after they complete a nine-month mandatory gap following the second dose.
According to figures put out by the state’s daily bulletin, the daily inoculation rate in Maharashtra dropped to 60,602 in May (till May 29) from 114,994 in April. The rate, in fact, has seen a steady decline since December 2021, when it was 624,642. The state averaged 469,739 vaccinations a day in January and 268,309 a day in February.
“We have been vaccinating more than 70,000 beneficiaries every day and at this rate, we will use all doses due for expiry in the next few days. Till date, there has been no wastage on account of expired stock in the state. In fact, we have helped private hospitals utilise their stock, and vaccines from Vasai, Virar, Palghar and other districts was diverted to avoid wastage,” said Dr Sachin Desai, state immunisation officer, said.
“We are sure about the rise in the average inoculation in the coming days,” he said.
The Har Ghar Dastak programme involves healthcare and anganwadi workers encouraging beneficiaries for inoculation through a door-to-door campaign. But, an official from the state health department said, on condition of anonymity, that the programme has received a lukewarm response.
“We are launching the second phase of programme in which we are reaching out to beneficiaries. It is true that the response for the booster and second dose is lukewarm, but we are focusing on the area where the response is low,” he said.
Dr Gautam Bhansali, chief coordinator for private hospitals during Covid-19 pandemic, said that efforts are being made to increase vaccination rates. “A few doses in private hospitals were dumped due to their expiry a few months ago. The doses due to expire in the next few months in private and public hospitals will be used in the next few days as we are ramping up the vaccination aggressively. It is true that the vaccination rate has dwindled in the last few months, but we are launching special drives to encourage people to take doses,” he said.
“The government should allow the precaution dose at government facilities rather than restricting them to the private hospital. This will help them in increasing the vaccination,” Dr Avinash Bhondve, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said.
Among those yet to receive their first dose, Thane district led the list with 12.9 million, followed by Jalgaon (798,638), Nanded (721,977) and Nashik (642,268). Mumbai and Pune have inoculated 516,255 and 507,262 more beneficiaries respectively than their eligible population given the high floating population, the RTI response revealed. Mumbai has achieved 100% coverage of both doses, while Pune has still to inoculate half a million beneficiaries with the second dose.
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