Mumbai: Nearly two months after the Covid-19 vaccination drive was expanded to include the 12-15 age group, only one-third of the eligible population in Mumbai have taken their first dose.
Overall in Maharashtra, 55% of the state’s 12-15 population has taken their first dose, while Mumbai continues to remain one of the worst-performing districts in the inoculation of children.
Mumbai has 3.9 lakh eligible 12-15 population, of which 1,00,534 (25.7%) have taken their first dose and 24,380 (6.25%) have taken both doses of the vaccine to date.
In the state of the 39 lakh eligible population, 8,20,929 (21%) have taken both doses while 21,81,018 (55.92%) have taken their first dose.
Corbevax vaccine, manufactured by Hyderabad-based Biological E. Limited, is being used to inoculate children against Covid-19 in the 12-15 age group. The jab is administered through an intramuscular route in the gap of 28 days between the two.
Speaking about the lukewarm response to vaccination, Dr Bakul Parekh, a state paediatric task force member, said that with low Covid-19 cases and most children being asymptomatic, many parents are hesitant.
“With the decline in Covid-19 cases and fewer children testing positive, many parents do not want their child to have side-effects of the vaccine,” he said.
The poor response to the Covid-19 vaccination programme for 12-15 has been a bone of contention in the state paediatric task force meetings too.
“It is important for the children to take the vaccination. We will have to devise a way to ensure they get the jab at the earliest. It has been discussed in our meetings and we have suggested conducting vaccination programmes in schools and colleges instead of vaccination centres,” said another member of the state paediatric task force.
Dr Parekh said the other reason behind the low turnout is that parents do not have time to take their children to the vaccination centres. “With all covid-19 restrictions being lifted and offices starting, most parents are finding it difficult to find time and take their child for vaccination. In such circumstances, having a vaccination camp in schools will help. It should be organised class wise. Children will also have the comfort of the school and see their friends getting the vaccine together,” he said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also roped in Project Mumbai, NGO to hold camps with schools. Shishir Joshi, Founder and CEO of the NGO, said they too have been getting a low response with school vacations on. “With schools shut, our vaccination camps in the schools have slowed down. While awareness is still very high especially because there is a marginal increase in Covid-19 numbers, the response to vaccination remains lukewarm from citizens because they are now seeing a surge of people with no masks which is making them convince themselves of the futility of getting jabbed. This slackness needs to be dispelled,” he said.
Dr Sachin Desai, the state immunisation officer said it will take another month or two to see an improvement in vaccination numbers among children. “It is vacation time. Most people have left for their hometown or are on some vacation. We aren’t expecting the numbers to improve in the next one month,” he said.
Meanwhile, the precautionary dose coverage for the 18-60 group continues to be low in Mumbai although hospitals said there have been cases with Covid-19 cases on a rise, there has been a slight increase in takers from this age group especially 45-60. So far, in Mumbai 66,759 people have taken the precautionary dose.
While data on those eligible for the booster dose is unavailable, Mumbai has an estimated 92.3 lakh population above 18-60. The precautionary dose for this population in a private vaccination centre was started in India on April 10. The only eligibility criteria for all those who are more than 18 years of age is one has to complete nine months after the administration of the second dose.
“We have seen a marginal rise in the number of takers for the booster dose after the Covid-19 cases have gone up in Delhi and Mumbai. We are still doing 200 plus booster doses every day,” said Joy Chakraborty, COO, PD Hinduja Hospital, Mahim.