PUNE: Over 72% of pregnant women (around 1.20 lakh) from Maharashtra are yet to take their second jab, data available with the health department till January 15 revealed.
A health department official said around 1.83 lakh women had taken their first shot across the state, while only around 51,912 women opted for the second jab. The data suggested that Nashik was the leading district in terms of vaccination of pregnant women.
As many as 18,102 pregnant women have so far taken their first shot in Nashik district, while 5,133 have opted for the second. Nashik is followed by Hingoli, where 12,139 such beneficiaries have taken the first shot and 6,251 the second shot.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) areas have reported administration of 4,560 first doses among these beneficiaries. But only 469 of them opted for the second shot. In the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) areas, the story is no different with 1,009 expecting mothers taking the first shot and merely 273 getting complete protection.
The data also revealed that there were at least five districts (Palghar, Gondia, Ratnagiri, Wardha and Buldhana) in the state, where zero beneficiaries have returned to the vaccination centres for their second shot.Experts said vaccine hesitancy, misconceptions, possible delivery and a long gap (84 days) between the two Covishield doses were the likely reasons for the low numbers for the completion of both the jabs.
Sanjay Patil, chairman of the Indian Medical Association’s Hospital Board of India, Pune chapter, told TOI, “Many of the pregnant women might have avoided the pregnancy in the first trimester. There is also a possibility that many of the beneficiaries who took their first shot, might have delivered before the eligibility of their second shot. Regardless, we need more awareness among women about the safety of the vaccine.”
State immunisation officer Sachin Desai told TOI, “The gap between the two doses might have been the main reason that has delayed the second shot among many. We have requested the officials to identify and vaccinate the beneficiaries at the earliest.”
Medical experts said refreshed mass awareness activities and repeated counselling sessions were the need of the hour to allay fears of any untoward side-effects following the vaccination.
Last year, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) had recommended vaccination for pregnant women. The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) had also vouched for it earlier.
In terms of daily vaccination, Pune district recorded immunisation of over 16,000 beneficiaries across 588 government and private vaccination sites till 8pm on Tuesday. The district has so far administered 1.70 crore doses of Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V, of which 94.71 lakh are the first doses, 73.53 lakh second doses and 2.08 lakh precaution doses.
