Lag in vaccination of senior citizens in PCMC

In terms of actual numbers, 11,25,433 citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 years have been vaccinated while the target was 10,87,300. This group actually crossed the 100 per cent vaccination mark, PCMC health department said.

Senior citizens receive their first dose of Covid Vaccination at the Fortis hospital. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)

WHILE Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar last week warned that those who have delayed their second dose of Covid-19 vaccine will face restrictions on their movements, the vaccination of those in the age group of 60 years and above has been trailing compared to other age groups. In case of both COVID doses, the 60 years and above group is far behind the other two groups, PCMC officials said.

While 100 per cent citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 have taken the first dose, 73 per cent of those in the age group of 44 to 59 years have got the second dose. In case of the 60 years and above group, the figure is just 63 per cent.

In terms of actual numbers, 11,25,433 citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 years have been vaccinated while the target was 10,87,300. This group actually crossed the 100 per cent vaccination mark, PCMC health department said.

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In the age group of 45 to 59 years, 2,89,715 citizens have received their first doses while the target is 3,98,200. In the age group of 60 years and above, 1,77,888 citizens have been vaccinated with the first dose while the target is 2,81,100.

Also Read | Two new Omicron cases in Maharashtra, one in Gujarat

In case of second doses, the 18 to 44 years age group is ahead of the other two groups, with 7,44,070 citizens or 68 per cent having got the second dose.

In the 45 to 60 years age group, 2,30,940 or 58 per cent of citizens have got the second dose. In the 60 years and age group, 1,56,226 citizens or 56 per cent citizens have received their second dose.

Overall, PCMC has vaccinated 27,96,409 citizens or 79 per cent with the first and second dose. Of which 15,93,036 or 90 per cent have received the first dose while 12,033,73 or 68 per cent citizens have received the second dose.

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Conceding that vaccination of the third group is lagging, Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane said, “As per our information, many people from Pimpri-Chinchwad have received their first and second doses outside Pimpri-Chinchwad limits. We don’t have their record. At least 5-7 per cent of them must have done so. Therefore, the percentage of those with second doses will go up if we add those who have taken dose outside PCMC limits.”

Dhakane said many of the citizens after taking first doses have either travelled outside PCMC limits for job purpose or shifted their residence as there was a time lag of 84 days. “These must be those who were supposed to take Covishield doses,” he said.

Stating that they have launched a full-fledged drive to vaccinate senior citizens with both doses, Dhakane said the PCMC commissioner has issued directives to all zonal offices to create awareness and reach out to senior citizens, the ailing or the disabled and ensure their full vaccination. “The zonal offices have been asked to take help of NGOs and senior citizens organisations for this purpose,” he said.

Dhakane said that not just the senior citizens group, vaccination in all groups has seen a spurt, especially after the Omicron scare. “In the past few days, there is brisk vaccination taking place at all our centres Maybe it is because of the Omicron scare. We are determined to achieve full vaccination soon as we are getting ample doses from the government. Nearly 60,000 doses are available daily with us,” he said.

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Dhakane also said the COVID Care Centre at Chikhli, which was found ransacked last week, is being set right. Activists had complained to PCMC that the centre, which had been shut in July after COVID cases dipped, had become a gambling den. PCMC officials who inspected the centre had found it in disarray, with most of the equipment burnt or tattered.

Dhakane said as the centre was shut, some miscreants might have broken in. “We have instructed officials to ensure proper security at the centre and get it in order,” he said.

He denied that PCMC had incurred heavy loss on account of the ransacking.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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