Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
TMC dedicates last Sat of every month to vaccinate women
Initiative to start on Aug 28 to encourage more women to get vaccinated as they form 46% of beneficiaries inoculated by the civic body
THANE: Women constitute 46% of the beneficiaries vaccinated by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in its vaccination drive. The TMC has so far vaccinated 4,77,550 men and 4,23,488 women in the vaccination drive.
To give a boost to vaccination among the women, TMC has dedicated the last Saturday of every month for vaccination of women at Parking Plaza centre starting on August 28.
Due to household chores and jobs, most women find it difficult to stand in serpentine queues overnight at vaccination centres. The civic officials claimed that this led to less vaccination percentage among the women.
TMC additional commissioner, Sandeep Malvi, said, “We observed that women find it difficult to reach the vaccination centre because of the responsibility that they have. Therefore, the civic commissioner decided to have a vaccination day only for women. Right now, it is once a month – the last Saturday of the month – but if we get a good response, we will increase the number of days.”
Women welcomed the initiative but have questions about the availability of vaccines. Pallavi Jain, 29, from Thane, went to the centre twice to stand in a queue for three hours and later she was asked to go home as the doses were finished.
Jain said, “I went to two different centres on two different days to get the vaccine but returned without being jabbed as the doses were over. I have a three-year-old girl. Since my husband works, I cannot go out when she is awake. Twice, my husband had to take off but I could not get vaccinated.”
Sukanya Pawar, a 52-year-old housemaid, said, “I went to take the first dose at the Manpada vaccination centre and was standing in the queue from 4am. Before Covid, I used to work in 12 houses. Now, I work in only four houses as I am not fully vaccinated. All four clients are morning clients, so if I get late to stand in a queue after work, I won’t be able to get jabbed. But as TMC has started a special vaccination day for women, it will be helpful for working women like us.”