Maharashtra: 53 per cent of targeted recipients get COVID-19 vaccines amid glitches

Public Health Department Principal Secretary Pradeep Vyas said no serious adverse reaction of the vaccine was reported in the state and added the inoculation drive will be conducted on Wednesday, too.
Beneficiaries wait to be vaccinated with Covishield vaccine during a countrywide inoculation drive against COVID-19 at Rajawadi Municipal Hospital in Mumbai. (Photo | PTI)
Beneficiaries wait to be vaccinated with Covishield vaccine during a countrywide inoculation drive against COVID-19 at Rajawadi Municipal Hospital in Mumbai. (Photo | PTI)

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday said that 14,883 healthcare staffers, or 52.68 of the targeted beneficiaries for the day, were administered COVID-19 vaccine doses across 274 centres in the state as the inoculation drive resumed after two days.

In an official statement, Public Health Department Principal Secretary Pradeep Vyas said no serious adverse reaction of the vaccine was reported in the state and added the inoculation drive will be conducted on Wednesday, too.

The vaccination drive against COVID-19 began in the state last Saturday across its 34 districts and in 27 municipal corporation areas as part of the nationwide programme.

As many as 18,562 beneficiaries, or 65 per cent of the target for the first day, were given the shot across the state on Saturday.

The state government on Saturday evening announced the suspension of the COVID-19 vaccination drive for two days (Sunday & Monday) owing to glitches in the Co-Win app.

The app has been created by the Centre for managing registration for the inoculation.

The state government said that 17,762 vaccinators and 7,85,927 health staffers have been registered on the app.

On Tuesday, the vaccination drive resumed at 9 am.

In Mumbai, the civic body managed to administer vaccines to only 50 per cent of the targeted number of healthcare workers due to glitches in Co-WIN, officials said.

Of the targeted 3,200 healthcare workers called for getting vaccinated at nine centres in Mumbai, only 1,597 were given shots at the end of the day, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data.

According to the data, the highest 307 healthcare workers were given vaccines at KEM Hospital, followed by 285 at Rajawadi Hospital and 236 at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, among other medical facilities.

The least number of 13 healthcare workers took doses at the state-run JJ Hospital, where indigenously developed "Covaxin" vaccine of Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is being administered, according to the data.

The other vaccine being administered is 'Covishield', manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).

Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC, told PTI that due to the technical glitches in Co-WIN, they failed to send SMSes to the registered healthcare workers.

"Hence, we were forced to call every individual healthcare worker through 'war rooms' last night," Gomare said.

In Pune, the vaccination resumed at 28 out of the 31 centres, a senior district health official said.

There are 31 vaccination centres in Pune district - eight each in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic limits and 15 in rural areas.

Pune Municipal Corporation's health chief Dr Ashish Bharti said the vaccination could not be started at three centres due to some technical issues.

"We are trying to rectify the issues at the three centres.

The vaccination at the remaining five centres in the city started at 10 am," he said.

District-wise numbers of staffers vaccinated till 7 pm on Tuesday are as follows: Akola (181), Amravati (239), Buldhana (359), Washim (212), Yavatmal (289), Aurangabad (335), Hingoli (120), Jalna (231), Parbhani (229), Kolhapur (545), Ratnagiri (245), Sangli (432), Sindhudurg (161), Beed (142), Latur (221), Nanded (276), Osmanabad (238), Mumbai (595), Mumbai suburbs (1002), Bhandara (206), Chandrapur (399), Gadchiroli (187), Gondia (144), Nagpur (656), Wardha (386), (Ahmednagar 650), Dhule (313), Jalgaon (397), Nandurbar (285), Nashik (710), Pune (1,403), Satara (511), Solapur (681), Palghar (319), Thane (1,434) and Raigad (150).

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