People who skipped second dose of Covid-19 vaccine could face restrictions: Ajit Pawar

A woman receives her Covid-19 vaccine shot at Nair hospital, on Thursday. Pic/Ashish Raje

If Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is to be believed, crores of people could face restrictions in addition to the existing ones for not taking their second Covid-19 vaccine dose yet. The NCP leader on Thursday said that 1.75 crore citizens have missed the time interval between two doses of vaccines, and failed to turn up at immunisation centres that have adequate stock.

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar

We have asked the administration to create awareness about Covid-19 vaccination, and also explore possibilities of creating a situation where people will be forced to take the second dose," said Pawar, hinting at imposing more restrictions on the defaulters.

According to the official records, there is no data of the second Covid-19 vaccine dose of nearly 1.75 crore people who had taken the first dose. Currently, many services are open only to the fully vaccinated people. The rules for shopping and using public transport have been linked to citizens' vaccination status.

The state Cabinet, in its weekly meeting on Wednesday, discussed the slow pace of vaccination, which is one of the crucial protective measures against Covid-19 in view of the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Visitors at R City mall, Ghatkopar. Currently, many services are open only to the fully vaccinated people. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Maharashtra had 7.65 crore single-dose beneficiaries and 4.37 crore fully vaccinated people as of December 8. In the state, 76.69 per cent of the population in the 18-44 years age group and 85.25 per cent in the 45+ age group have received their first shot. Though the vaccination centres have been seeing increased turnout recently, the number of people who have overshot the deadline for their second shot remains high.

The daily vaccination average for the period between December 1 and 7 was 8.54 lakh doses. In the past, the state had recorded the highest of 15.03 lakh vaccinations on September 8. The latest high of 12.07 lakh was recorded on November 30.