Day 1: 19,583 teenagers get vaccinated in Pune region

Health authorities in the district said they were aiming at immunising 8.97 lakh beneficiaries across Pune circle, which includes Pune, Satara and Solapur districts, within a month.

In Pune city, a steady flow of teenagers was witnessed at one of the largest centres – Kamala Nehru hospital – all through the day. “I had to go to school but decided to come to the vaccination centre and take the shot first,” said Ritesh Parte, 15, who was the first beneficiary of Covaxin vaccine.

Seen waiting for their turn, 16-year-olds Aryan Jadhav and Kanad Tamhane said they were eager to take the vaccine. “This vaccine will help us fight Covid,” Kanad said. Harsheeta Urs, also 16, said she was not worried about any “side effects”. “There is so much evidence that vaccines are safe,” she added.

PMC immunisation officer Dr Suryakant Deokar said there are an approximate 2.5 lakh beneficiaries in the city. “We have administered 250 doses each at the 40 immunisation centres. While 50% were walk-in beneficiaries, the rest came after registering on the Co-Win app,” Dr Deokar added. “We have received 10,000 doses of Covaxin”, he said.

Overall, Pune district has an approximate 5.33 lakh beneficiaries in this age group who will be administered the jab across 149 government-run centres.

Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director of health, Pune circle, said the department had distributed 3.5 lakh doses of Covaxin last week across vaccination centres. Pune circle has 8.97 lakh children in the eligible age group of which 5.33 lakh are in Pune district, 1.43 lakh in Satara and 2.18 lakh in Solapur.

Private hospitals plan to procure Covaxin

Authorities at a few private hospitals in the city have decided to procure Covaxin in small quantities. “We have procured approximately 3,000 doses,” Dr H K Sale, executive director of Noble hospital said.

We did not keep stock of Covaxin earlier and there are inquiries from parents for the vaccine. We have asked the company supplier directly and will purchase at the prescribed rate. The vaccine supply will take at least eight to 10 days,” he said. At Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, authorities said they will take a decision on procuring Covaxin while Ruby Hall Clinic officials said they had yet to procure the vaccine.