Half of eligible senior citizens got booster jab in Pune

PUNE: Around 50% of eligible senior citizens have taken their precaution doses across the Pune district, data from the district health office (DHO) stated.

The data stated there are around 2.65 lakh senior citizens with comorbidities who were eligible for the booster shots, of which around 1.25 lakh such beneficiaries have taken their shots by February 9.

The DHO data also stated that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) areas are leading the senior citizens’ precaution dose vaccination, as around 64,724 such beneficiaries out of 95,730 have already got their booster shots. The percentage of which comes to 68%.

In the Pune rural areas, around 36,199 beneficiaries have received their booster shots, the percentage of which comes to 32%, followed by 23,536 beneficiaries’ vaccination in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) areas.

The DHO report stated there has been a 15% rise in the senior citizens’ precaution doses’ vaccination in the second week of February.

An official with the public health services office stated that most of the beneficiaries, be it from senior citizens (60-plus age) or from the healthcare workers or the frontline workers, have taken Covishield dose prior.

Since, the availability of Covishield has no issues across the district, the vaccination is gaining the required momentum.

The official said as the day progresses, the number of beneficiaries who complete their nine-month eligibility for the booster shot will also increase.

Meanwhile, on the day’s vaccination according to the Cowin data on Sunday, the district recorded immunisation of over 3,000 beneficiaries across 228 government and private vaccination sites till 7pm.

The district now has administered a total of 1.69 crore doses of Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V, of which 94.65 lakh are first doses and 73.27 lakh are second doses and 2.01 lakh are the precaution doses.