This is an archive article published on June 24, 2021
PCMC vaccine drive for 18-44 group starts again, civic chief urges local residents to adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour
The civic chief said those who had been infected with Covid-19 get antibodies after three weeks while those who get vaccinated need 15 days to build up immunity.
A woman gets a shot of a Covid-19 vaccine in Pune. (Express Photo: Ashish Kale)
Even as the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation on Thursday restarted the vaccination drive for those in the age group of 18-44 years, Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil said that if local residents do not adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour, then the city may face a serious situation.
Urging them to remain alert, the PCMC chief said, “Though Covid-19 cases are falling, everyone should strictly adhere to Covid- appropriate norms. If this is not done, we will have to face a serious situation as experts have predicted a third wave.”
Patil said if a third wave of infections strikes, children are likely to be most affected. “In view of this prediction, PCMC is making all arrangements to tackle the situation. We have also appointed a task force and are reserving beds in civic and private hospitals, especially for children,” he said.
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The civic chief said those who had been infected with Covid-19 get antibodies after three weeks while those who get vaccinated need 15 days to build up immunity. “Those who have not been infected with Covid-19 and those who are suffering from serious diseases should get themselves vaccinated on priority,” he said.
PCMC additional health chief Dr Pavan Salve said the civic body has restarted vaccination for those above 18 after a long gap. “The drive was started in April but we had to close it down due to unavailability of vaccine stock. It has started again today,” he said.
He said those above 18 will get their first Covishield dose at 45 centres and those above 45 will get first and second doses at 19 centres. “Also, those between 18 and 44 years and those above 45 will get the second dose of Covaxin at two centres,” he said.
Local residents, however, claimed that the PCMC had not made the second dose available at the centres closest to their home. “I took the first dose at Kasarwadi hospital which is close to my residence. This morning when I went for the second dose at Kasarwadi hospital, I was told to search for a centre in Dapodi or Pimple Gurav area. I don’t have a two-wheeler and I don’t even know the place, how will I search for it,” said Priya Deshmukh, a resident of Kasarwadi.
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Other residents also made similar complaints at the Kasarwadi hospital.
Responding to this, Dr Salve said, “We release press notes every evening. The residents will have to search for the centres which are close to their residents. Second doses are not available at all centres.”
Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane, however, said, “We will ensure that second doses are also available at centres close to the residences of citizens.”
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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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