Around 16 per cent of 9.22 lakh adolescents have got jabs so far; daily average stands at 12,000 as opposed to the target of 35,000; second dose to start from Jan 31
Adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years get vaccinated against COVID-19, at Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar. File pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
The vaccination drive for adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years is going at a slow pace with only 12,000 being vaccinated a day over the past 12 days, as opposed to the daily target of 35,000 beneficiaries.
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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has set a target to vaccinate 9.22 lakh adolescents. So far, 1.47 lakh doses of the vaccine have been administered to this age group with less than 8 per cent given at private centres. Meanwhile, the second dose for this age group will start on January 31.
The vaccination for adolescents started on January 3 with the state government setting a target of vaccinating 6,12,461 adolescents. However, Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner of the BMC, announced on the first day of the vaccination drive that the civic body will try to immunise 9 lakh teenagers within 28 days so that the second dose can be given after that. That would mean administering 35,000 doses daily. “The speed has to be increased. We will reach schools and colleges next week to organise camps. It will increase the speed of vaccination,” he said.
“Though there isn’t any deadline to meet the target, we are trying to reach as many teenagers as possible for the vaccination. It will help to reopen the schools and teens can appear for the board exams for Std X and Std XII without worry,” said a BMC official.
Till Saturday, 1,47,944 teens or 16 per cent of the target population received their shots. Of this, 1.37 lakh doss were administered at civic and state government centres while remaining 10,696 opted for vaccination at private centres.
1,47,944
No. of teens who received the first dose
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