Only 5% of those eligible in city, state take booster shot on Day 1

The booster dose rollout saw a tepid response in the state and the city on Monday as barely 5% of the eligible beneficiaries came out to take the third shot.

- Sumitra DebRoy and Malathy Iyer

Mumbai: The booster dose rollout saw a tepid response in the state and the city on Monday as barely 5% of the eligible beneficiaries came out to take the third shot. Contrary to expectations of higher footfall in the wake of the Omicron surge, the usual long queues and jam-packed registration halls were missing this time, and empty chairs greeted many senior citizens across vaccination centres.

In Maharashtra, 49,307 people, including frontliners and senior citizens, took the third shot on the first day, out of the eligible 9.35 lakh. Mumbai administered 10,698 precautionary doses, covering 5.8% of its 1.8 lakh beneficiaries. 30% of the 12,139 eligible senior citizens took the third shot. In comparison, 5,249 of 88,892 healthcare workers, or 6%, showed up. Of the nearly 81,000 eligible frontline workers, merely 2.2% (1,823) came for the booster shot.

Within the state, Mumbai administered the highest number of precautionary doses. Pune delivered the second highest (6,638), followed by Thane (4,692) and Nashik (4,015). A comparison of states shows that Gujarat managed to give the third dose to 1.55 lakh on Monday, while Rajasthan and Karnataka gave it to 95,540 and 81,728 people respectively. Nationally, 9.79 lakh precautionary doses were administered.