Demand grows for priority vaccination campaigns in slum pockets

Pune: Public representatives and health experts stressed on door-to-door vaccination in the city’s slums because a sizable number of the 4.6 lakh residents living in 390 such pockets had not come forward to take the Covid shot yet for various reasons, including general apathy and wrong notions about immunisation.

“We have requested the deputy chief minister and Pune’s guardian minister Ajit Pawar to take up door-to-door vaccination in slum households on priority. One such door-to-door pilot has been carried out in one of the slums,” said Shivajinagar MLA Siddharth Shirole. “A big chunk of the unvaccinated slum population will take the shot if we take the vaccination right up to their doorsteps. The remaining will need some counselling to decide in favour of vaccination as they continue to harbour misconceptions,” Shirole said.

“Besides vaccinating the unvaccinated, we have to focus on the vaccination of slum population not turning up to take the second dose of the vaccine despite being due for it. The door-to-door vaccination will address both. The guidelines in this regard are awaited,” said the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Covid immunisation officer, Suryakant Devkar.

“Mainly, the herd mentality is prominently at play when it comes to vaccinating the city’s congested hutments. Those who have the wrong notion can be convinced to take the shot through doorstep vaccination,” said Sanjay Patil, the chairman of the Indian Medical Association’s Hospital Board of India, Pune branch.