This story is from January 21, 2021

Vaccinations surge in Maharashtra, rural areas push up numbers

Covid-19 vaccination in Maharashtra improved on Wednesday, largely due to the enthusiastic participation of beneficiaries from the rural areas.
Vaccinations surge in Maharashtra, rural areas push up numbers
A health worker gets vaccinated at a city hospital on Wednesday
PUNE/NASHIK/KOLHAPUR: Covid-19 vaccination in Maharashtra improved on Wednesday, largely due to the enthusiastic participation of beneficiaries from the rural areas.
By 7pm, the state had reported vaccination of 18,166 beneficiaries, about 68% of the target set for the day. It was better than the coverage of 65% on the vaccination launch day on Saturday.
“The vaccination is going on beyond 7pm at some sites and we expect the numbers to go up.
A total of 51,660 beneficiaries have taken the vaccine in the state so far. Of these, 881 beneficiaries have received the Covaxin doses,” principal health secretary Pradeep Vyas said.
Health authorities expect the coverage to increase gradually as word about the almost negligible side-effects of the vaccination spreads from those who have taken the jab. Moreover, counselling and outreach programmes are being held for the beneficiaries.
Parts of Vidarbha and Marathwada continue to lead in the inoculation programme with Amravati district reporting 112% vaccinations on Wednesday and Hingoli district 107%. Aurangabad district reported the lowest vaccination in the state at 31%. In some parts, authorities are contacting more than a hundred beneficiaries to ensure maximum recipients are inoculated.
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).

The vaccination drive in the Pune Municipal Corporation limits slowed down further with 184 or 31% of the 600 targeted beneficiaries taking the shots on the third day of the drive on Wednesday. It was 36% and 55% on Tuesday and last Saturday. The PCMC limits registered only 27% vaccination, the lowest in the region, on Wednesday.
The trend persisted in Pune district as well, with 1,355 or 47% of the 2,900 target beneficiaries taking the jabs on Wednesday as against 48% and 58% vaccinations recorded on Tuesday and last Saturday.
In North Maharashtra, Nandurbar district had the highest vaccination (78%) on Wednesday, while Nashik district had its highest vaccination in the past three days at 72%.
The Covid-19 vaccines are being administered at 13 sites in Nashik district, including eight locations in the urban areas. “Many health workers the from urban areas did not come for the vaccination but those from the rural areas have been coming for the past two days. They were mostly anganwadi and ASHA workers,” said Sapna Thakre, health officer of Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC).
In Western Maharashtra, Satara and Solapur districts also reported a high number of vaccinations — 79% and 76% — with many of their centres showing 100% attendance of beneficiaries.
In Kolhapur, private health workers are participating in large numbers in the vaccination drive across 11 centres. Kolhapur district vaccinated 71% beneficiaries on Wednesday compared to 50% the previous day. Four beneficiaries from Kolhapur city developed mild side-effects to the vaccine. “The side-effects are mostly because of anxiety in the beneficiaries. Despite the side-effects being very mild, we will be in touch with them through phone calls for the next couple of days,” said Pol.
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