Ladies special: BMC plans...

Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani has said that of the total vaccinated population in the city currently, men constitute 57 per cent, while women comprise 43 per cent and this gap was most likely due to the overcrowding at vaccination centres, especially in the initial months, when the vaccine registration process was still not decentralised. “At that time, we noticed that fewer women were getting vaccinated and most of the women usually preferred to go to a vaccination camp being held closer to their home, or where the process was more streamlined, so that they didn’t have to wait for ‘long hours’,” he said.

Kakani further said they had directed all ward officers to reserve one day of the week just for women’s vaccination in their respective wards, as soon as possible. “We want to speed up the vaccination drive and are taking all possible measures for this. Our aim is to vaccinate 100 per cent of the population with the first dose and at least 50 per cent of the population with the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by November-end or December,” he said. Senior health officers from the state health department said the difference in vaccine coverage between genders did not suggest a major statistical difference. “It is in proportion to the female population out of the total population. Further, pregnant women were permitted vaccination only recently,” he said, adding that there was no cause for alarm. There are an estimated 5060 lakh more men (about 8 per cent more) in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, health experts believe there is a need to create more awareness on the Covid vaccine among women to counter hesitancy. “It is a good step by the civic body to reserve one day for women but for that they have to create awareness and reach out to as many as possible or else this move will be of no use,” said an expert.