Pune: As many as 50% of the senior population aged 60 years and above have received photographs of the Covid vaccine in the Metropolitan Pune (PMR) area so far, the latest district administrative report has revealed.
However, only 4% of beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group had received both shots.
Moreover, the inclusion of senior citizens in a group of priority along with health workers and frontline workers has helped push the vaccination number.
Considering the level of high mobility among those aged 18-44 years, it is very important to vaccinate them along with the entire earliest population, experts say.
The total population in PMR is 1.17 crores.
Of this amount, 85.39 Lakh residents aged over 18 years qualified to get a covid vaccine.
In this group, 63% of the population has received the first dose of vaccines.
However, only 23% of the population in this age group from the region has received a vaccine dose.
“Going by a strong number of senior citizens who are fully immunized, we must change the definition of vulnerable population in PMR.
Those who are under 60 years old, who have not even received the first dose, must be considered vulnerable groups now,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, Assistant Director , Health services.
Health officials have prioritized population vaccination waiting for the second dose.
“About 70% of doses are intended for vaccinations for those scheduled for the second dose while the remaining 30% allocation for the first dose recipient.
Therefore, it is also true that we cannot deny vaccination to anyone visiting the centers,” Dishmukh said.
Late inclusion, poor vaccine allocation (especially in May), a long gap between two doses is the main reason for the number of children aged 18-44 years who are vaccinated fully low.
In addition, many beneficiaries in this age group are still hesitant to get Jab paid from the private vaccination site.
Although, experts say that those who are able to pay shots must get the earliest second dose.
A number of large vaccine doses are currently lying not used with private hospitals because demand for paid jab has dropped.
“When the virus continues to spread and mutate, a large population that is not vaccinated can function as an incubator to a newer variant,” said Sanjay Patil, Chair of the Indian Medical Association Hospital in India.
On March 1, India began the second phase of its vaccination strategy by starting their inoculation over the age of 60 or for people aged 45 years and above with co-morbid conditions.
The government introduced a phase 3 phase strategy that was liberalized and accelerated from Covid-19 vaccination from May 1.
This step made everyone over the age of 18 who qualified to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
“Because we have high seropositivity indications (80% in the Pimpri Chinchwad region according to the last serosurvey), even 63% of the PMR dose vaccination population should be sufficient to prevent the third wave,” said Senior Clinical Epidemiology Amitav Banerjee.
Banerjee has conducted a broad Seroprevalence study in PMR since the first wave of pandemic.
Experts, however, have underlined its importance to fully vaccinate 60% of the region’s population to reach the stage of the herd immunity.
“World Health Organization (WHO) supports the achievement of ‘Herd’s immunity’ through vaccination.
This is because the immunity obtained through natural covid infection can tap faster than the immunity induced by vaccines,” Dishmukh said.
Prioritizing the vaccination of those who have not suffered from previous Covid infections will allow the achievement of flock of immunity faster considering the lack of vaccine doses, experts said.
“We face a vaccine supply crisis.
Natural infections provide strong immunity, whatever some experts say (without evidence).
Not including those who have antibodies to Covid-19 or have a positive RT-PCR test in the past, from the first round of vaccination Will save a lot of resources and allow vulnerable vaccinations, “Banerjee said.