Vaccination Day 3: Walk-ins, rural push see Maharashtra turnout jump to 68%

MUMBAI: The third day of Covid-19 vaccination on Wednesday saw an impressive surge in the number of recipients in the state—68% as compared to 52% the previous day— mainly due to “walk-in” access to pre-registered healthcare workers, senior government officials-cum-doctors stepping in as ‘motivators’ to take the vaccine and an enthusiastic turnout in the rural areas.
State health officials said that 18,166 recipients—about 68% of the healthcare workers scheduled for vaccination on Wednesday— had taken the shot, report Sumitra Deb Roy, Malathy Iyer & Bhavika Jain.
The turnout in Mumbai, once India’s worst Covid hotspot, was 52%.
The BMC had a list of 3,300 healthcare workers on Wednesday morning, but could vaccinate only 52% of them by 5pm.
Amravati, Hingoli see over 100% vax turnout
“Worse, a sizable number of the recipients were self-motivated walk-in recipients and not those who were mentioned in the list generated by the Co-WIN app,” complained a senior BMC official. It seems the Co-WIN-generated SMSes didn’t reach the healthcare workers at all.
Apart from the Co-WIN glitches in Mumbai, health officials were happy that the state-wide turnout was higher than the first day (65%). National health commissioner N Ramaswami said the initial hesitancy would reduce as more healthcare workers take the vaccine and spread the word. “On Wednesday, we had a good number of district health officials and civic surgeons taking the vaccine to build confidence. More important, we haven’t seen any serious adverse effects,” he said.
In the three days of vaccination since January 16, a total of 51,650 health workers have been vaccinated. Principal health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas said he was optimistic that numbers would grow in the days to come. “Initial hesitancy will go away in a few days and there will be better acceptance,” he said.
Two districts, Amravati and Hingoli, had over 100% turnout on Wednesday as they managed to vaccinate over 500 and 200 beneficiaries respectively. Three districts, Dhule, Wardha and Palghar, had more than 90% vaccination. Health officers from Nashik and Kolhapur said that ASHA workers were participating in large numbers compared to other health workers and that could be driving the numbers up.
In Mumbai, BMC executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare credited the significant number of walk-ins for the marginally improved performance—from 50% on Tuesday to 52% on the next day.
Owing to Co-WIN glitches, only 24 booths could go live on Wednesday of the 40 across 10 centres. “Our ward offices contacted the private hospitals in the vicinity of vaccination centres and told them to walk-in. We had a good number of private doctors taking the vaccine,” she said. However, the drive cannot completely hinge on walk-ins and the system of intimating beneficiaries would remain.
Dr Gomare said there were only seven cases of minor side-effects reported on Wednesday. The two healthcare workers who were hospitalised after the drive on the first day have been discharged.
Meanwhile, the state health report showed that parts of Vidarbha and Marathwada led the inoculation programme, with Amravati district reporting 112% vaccinations on Wednesday and Hingoli district 107%. Aurangabad district reported the lowest vaccination in the state (31%).
Though Pune district reported 38% vaccination, it had inoculated the second highest number of beneficiaries in the state (1,109) after Thane district (1,774).
Rural parts of Pune reported an impressive 64% vaccination on Wednesday, while the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) had only 27% coverage. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) also had just 31% vaccinations till 7pm.
Earlier on Wednesday, public health minister Rajesh Tope said the glitches in the Co-WIN app is creating confusion among beneficiaries and there is still some hesitation among the healthcare workers regarding the vaccination.
“The turnout cannot be called low; Maharashtra was among the top states on the first day. The technical problems cropping up in the Co-WIN app is causing some problems. And we have also noticed that there is some hesitation about getting vaccinated among some healthcare workers,” said Tope. He said that the public health department would counsel the healthcare workers and reach out to them to allay their fears and appeal them to get vaccinated. “I will also release mass chips to all these beneficiaries. There are some ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ in the minds of the healthcare workers and we will create awareness.”
Tope also said that since the vaccination drive will be carried out every week from now on, the participation will only increase. He also said that the two vaccines—Covaxin and Covishield—are completely safe and people need not have any fear about getting inoculated.
There will be no vaccine drive on Thursday. It will resume on Friday and continue till Saturday.
(With inputs from the Pune bureau)