58% beneficiaries in PMR take shots after three-hr delay in getting started

Pune: A short 38 days after the first person in the world was inoculated in the UK, healthcare workers across the state stepped out for Covid-19 vaccination on Saturday.
Nearly 65% of the 28,500 registered beneficiaries turned up to get the vaccine, senior state health authorities said. The drive was impressive in Marathwada, with Hingoli district reporting 100% attendance, followed by Parbhani and Dhule (97%), Buldhana (96%).Mumbai’s 47% vaccination was the lowest.
After a long and hard year of the pandemic where the Pune Metropolitan Region ranks among the worst-hit in the country, and vaccination was expected to cover all the beneficiaries, just 58% of the 3,100 healthcare workers listed for the first day took their jabs.
The region comprising rural parts of Pune reported 61%, Pimpri Chinchwad 57%, and Pune city 55% of beneficiaries turning up for the shots. Only Symbiosis Medical College and Hospital in Lavale recorded 100% vaccination.
In the Pune division, Solapur district reported 91%, the highest attendance. Solapur district health officer Dr Sheetal Jadhav told TOI, “ We had a series of video conference meetings in addition the one-to-one talks.”
A two-hour delay in beginning, and another hour trying to get the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) application to work ate into the 9am to 5pm schedule in the PMR. Some beneficiaries did not turn up, and a small number who came to the sites refused to take the shots.
Fifteen of the 31 vaccination sites in Pune district, mostly in urban areas, went offline for registration. Ashish Bharati, head of PMC's health department, said they had instructions to start only after the online registration system powered up. “Some people waited and then left without taking the shots," he added. Later, the manual process sped up the vaccination in the remaining six hours.
Ayush Prasad, chief executive officer of Pune Zilla Parishad, said the actual drive in Pune rural areas commenced at most centres between 11am and 11.30am. “Vaccinators are experienced. They made up for the lost time," he added.
A senior official at one of the centres said they had expected only 20% to 30% vaccination in the first few days.
There were slight setbacks. Among the 22 complaints reported in the state, 14 of them minor, a health worker in Wagholi near Pune began shivering, perspiring and grew breathless some 10 to 15 minutes after vaccination. She was taken to a private hospital where doctors said she had been on night duty and had not eaten before taking the jab. Vaccination at this centre halted for nearly 40 minutes.
Doctors in Kolhapur, Solapur and Satara said the effects such as “dizziness” were a result of anxiety and did not require any medication.
Principal health secretary Pradeep Vyas said, “ The vaccination has received the expected response from the staff and there have been no reports of serious side-effects of the vaccine anywhere throughout the day.”
In the city, 470 of the 800 beneficiaries turned out for vaccination at the eight designated PMC centres. Of these, 32 refused the shots. The PMC staff said the delayed start, medical issues and personal reasons kept these beneficiaries away from the vaccination.
Eminent physician Vinod Shah, the first person in Pune city to be vaccinated, said he had no side effects. “I can now meet friends, attend to my patients and start my routine. My family says I am more confident after the vaccination,” he added.
Each of the eight centres was given a list of 100 healthcare workers in their jurisdiction on Friday night. Jitendra Oswal, deputy medical director of Bharati Hospital, said,"Most of the beneficiaries in our list were our resident and junior doctors. We called and gave them the time after we received the list around 10.30pm on Friday."
At the district hospital in Aundh, where Covaxin was used in Pune, inoculation started only after 11am.
As many as 456 beneficiaries received the vaccine at eight centres under Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Pawan Salve, additional health chief of PCMC, among the first to be vaccinated, said the response will increase in the next week.
Of the 1,500 beneficiaries in Pune rural areas, a total of 908 were vaccinated in the 15 centres. District civil surgeon Ashok Nandapurkar said most of the centres were involved in dry runs. “The staff and doctors had a proper plan for each aspect of the exercise and made up for the delay," he added.
(With Inputs from Sandip Dighe, Prasad Kulkarni, Piyush Bhusari & Umesh Isalkar)