Maha, city witness low turnout for vaccination on Thursday

Fourteen of the 36 districts of Maharashtra have witnessed less than 50 per cent turnout of beneficiaries at the vaccine centres on Thursday, as per the state health department. According to the data, Mumbai city recorded only 40 per cent of beneficiaries taking the vaccine shot on Thursday at the 18 vaccine centres which are comparatively very less as compared to the rural districts.

Officials attributed this drop to the low response from the healthcare workers from the other hospitals where vaccine booths are not set up. Moreover, the technical glitch in the Co-Win application is another reason for the low turnout. Health experts have raised concerns stating despite having the best accessibility the numbers beneficiaries in the city should have been increased instead of lower turnout.

On February 4, five districts witnessed the highest turnout which includes Akola (116 per cent), Palghar (109 per cent), Nashik (91 per cent), Satara (77 per cent) and Nagpur (73 per cent). However, the lowest turnout of beneficiaries was at Beed (30 per cent), Osmanabad (37 per cent), Kolhapur (39 per cent), Sangli (39 per cent) and Mumbai city (40 per cent).

According to the BMC data, overall Mumbai has witnessed a steep drop in the number of beneficiaries in the last four immunisation sessions. On February 1, Mumbai recorded 93.4 per cent turnout, which further dropped to 80 per cent, it more decreased to 76 per cent on February 3, while on Thursday it dropped to 54 per cent which is the fourth lowest turnout in the last 14 sessions.