PUNE: Data from the CoWIN portal has shown that as many as 79 lakh people in the district have now been covered by two doses of the Covid vaccine.
So far, nearly 1.79 crore doses have been administered across the district, of which around 97 lakh are first doses and 79 lakh are second doses.
However, the region still has people who have not yet taken their second jab.
According to vaccination data from March this year, Pune district has over 15 lakh beneficiaries who may have skipped the second dose — 13 lakh people are Covishield beneficiaries; the rest have taken Covaxin.
Public health experts urged citizens to complete their vaccination schedules as soon as possible. Some parts of the country have reported Covid spikes and the experts said the reports prove Covid precautions — including vaccination — continue to be necessary.
Sanjay Patil, chairperson of the Indian Medical Association’s Hospital Board of India, Pune chapter, said this is the right time to get the Covid jab.
“It takes at least two weeks for the antibodies to develop after vaccination. So one cannot be casual about the vaccines, which have saved millions of lives across the world.”
Patil said doctors across the region are now asking about the vaccination status of everyone turning up for health checks.
“Local authorities too should ensure the widest possible vaccine coverage,” he said.
On Sunday, 1,553 people were given their Covid jabs in the district — across 61 government and private vaccination centres. Officials said the ‘Sunday effect’ (many sites in rural and urban areas are shut during weekends) was to blame for the low count.
Authorities have also administered 3.42 lakh precaution doses. Drives for the third dose had started slow across the district, but officials said reports of rising cases from some states are likely to bring people back.
