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A total of 438 out of the 800 selected beneficiaries in the city took the Covid-19 vaccine on the inaugural day of the nationwide drive on Saturday. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had planned vaccination of 800 beneficiaries on the first day, with 100 in each of the eight centres in the city.
The drive was conducted at four government hospitals and as many private hospitals. It was launched in the city at the civic-run Kamla Nehru hospital at around 11 am by administering the first dose of Covishield to 74-year-old Dr Vinod Shah, senior medical practitioner.
“A total of 470 of the 800 selected beneficiaries turned up at the eight vaccination centres. However, 32 refused to take the vaccine,” said Ashish Bharati, head of the PMC health department. Around 45 per cent of the selected beneficiaries did not turn up to get vaccinated. The beneficiaries for the first phase are only from the medical fraternity comprising of 55,000 registered medical staff in the city. A total of 800 beneficiaries were selected through randomisation for the first day of the vaccination drive. As per the Union government directions, the Covid-19 vaccine has been made optional and can be refused by those selected through the online system.
“None of the beneficiaries who took the vaccine on Saturday reported any health issues. They were kept under observation for half-an-hour after taking the vaccine,” said Bharati. On many not turning up or refusing to take vaccine, Bharati said a few might be scared while some left the centre without taking the vaccine due to delay in administrative process caused by the online system.
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