Covid-19 vaccination in Mumbai: Where did the crowds go?

After dealing with a shortage of vaccines in recent weeks the civic body now has to contend with mdash vaccine hesitancy Earlier almost all vaccination centres saw crowds which the BMC had a tough time controlling Out of the cityrsquos one crore citizens aged above 18 years only 37 lakh have been vaccinated and yet the public at centres has reduced now The civic body is now looking at undertaking awareness campaigns at the local level to improve vaccinationBetween June 1 and June 20 civic centres administered 285 lakh vaccine doses of which 182 lakh were first doses The average number of daily first doses was 9100To be able to manage crowds better the civic body split the group of 1844yearolds into two and allowed vaccination for those aged 3044 years starting MondayCivic officials said the vaccination of transgenders is hit by hesitancy and lack of IDsCivic centres administered 32298 first doses on Monday and 59607 first doses on Tuesday The situation at the centres however was different from when the drive opened for those aged 1844 years on May 1 when centres were inundated with people The overall response to the drive so far appears to be lukewarmldquoBefore we started vaccination for people aged 45 to 59 years on April 1 the response of senior citizens was on the decline Meanwhile the second wave peaked and more and more people started coming for the vaccine When the central government opened vaccination for the 18 to 44 years group on May 1 the crowd increased in the third and fourth weeks of April out of fear of missing out on the vaccinerdquo said an officer closely associated with the vaccination programmeThe vaccination for senior citizens started on March 1 but only 93 lakh out of the estimated 25 lakh citizens aged above 60 years have come for vaccinationSimilarly though the vaccines have been available for people aged 45 to 59 years from April 1 only 12 lakh from this group have got the dose out of an estimated 20 lakhHave people relaxedSo are people relaxed because of the second wave receding Suresh Kakani additional municipal commissioner said ldquoWe cannot draw such conclusions immediately But it is for sure that anxiety over the availability of vaccines has reduced People know that they will get a vaccine today or tomorrow and so there wasnrsquot much crowd at the centresrdquoAnother officer added ldquoThose who were eager to take the vaccine and can afford to pay for it have already taken it Others are either waiting for free doses or have misconceptions Some communities of transgenders look at the vaccines as lifethreatening they are also facing issues related to identity cards People living on daily wages have the fear of losing a few daysrsquo income in case they get a fever Some elderly people and disabled people cannot move out of their homerdquo ldquoIf any group or NGOs approach us we send our medical teams to create awareness among them so that no one left out in the programmerdquo said Kakani Rajul Patel chairman of the health committee of the BMC said ldquoMany people in slums are waiting for free vaccines It is now our duty to give them technical support to register Some have misconceptions but they will come forward once they get to know the experience of their neighboursrdquo9100Avg daily first doses in June182 lakhNo of first doses in June so far