With the Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 causing yet another spurt in new Covid cases, Maharashtra health authorities have appealed to the public to take precautionary doses. As many as 17.5 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered across Maharashtra. However, to date, less than a crore have taken booster shots.
Dr Sachin Desai. Maharashtra immunization officer, told The Indian Express that time and again the authorities have urged the public across different age groups to complete the vaccination schedule.
Only 11 per cent of the target population of 4.7 crore in the 18-59 age group have taken the precautionary dose, while 30 per cent of the target population of 1.01 crore in the 60 years and above age group have got the booster shots.
Presently, over one lakh doses of the Covaxin vaccine are available in government centres. Due to the lack of demand, the production of the Covishield vaccine had been stopped by the Serum Institute of India. The state health authorities said that they were waiting for guidance from the Centre regarding the administration of Corbevax, which has been approved as a booster dose for adults who have been vaccinated with either Covaxin or Covishield vaccine.
Maharashtra has 2,212 active cases of Covid-19 infection and Pune leads among the districts with the most number of cases. According to a state health department report, there were 619 active cases of Covid infection followed by 589 in Mumbai and 399 in Thane. Till date, there have been more than 81 lakh people who were infected with Covid-19 and 1.48 lakh who succumbed to the infection.
As a precautionary measure to identify any new strain of Covid, the positive samples are sent for Whole Genome Sequencing. Screening of international passengers arriving at Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur airports had again commenced on December 24 last year and RT-PCR tests were done from at least 35,031 passengers. A total of 42 positive samples have been sent for genomic sequencing.
Meanwhile, Pune health chief Dr Bhagwan Pawar has also appealed to the public in the city to take their precautionary doses. According to the city immunisation officer Dr Suryakant Deokar, Covaxin vaccine doses are presently available across its 21 centres.
