With the flattening of the pandemic curve, the demand for inoculation has dropped drastically. In August, the state witnessed nearly 1.5 lakh vaccinations daily for the secondary or booster dose. This has now dropped to an average of 30,000 per day. On October 5, only 1,049 were administered vaccines.

“Currently, we have around five Covid-19 active patients. So, the eagerness to take a vaccine is extremely low,” said Dr Govind Chaudhari, district health officer, Nandurbar. Due to the drop in vaccination, several vials are nearing their expiry dates. “As of October 1, nearly 1 lakh vials have expired in the state. So, the health department has instructed us to prioritise such near-expiry vials,” said an official.

The health department is trying to meet the target through door-to-door inoculation drive the response is lukewarm. Around 97 lakh eligible people above 12 years in Maharashtra have not even taken their first dose. There were 1.2 crore beneficiaries, who are due for the second shot of Covid vaccines.

Even during the special immunisation campaign under the 75-day-long nationwide drive to mark the Amrit Mahotsav celebrations only 47 lakh people took the precautionary dose. “We are trying to push for vaccination through door-to-door immunisation but still people are refusing to take it. As there is no compulsion, we can’t force them,” said Dr Sachin Desai, state vaccination officer.

Among the 35 districts, the inoculation rate is the maximum in urbanised districts like Mumbai and Pune. While the rural districts with low human development index are lagging with Nandurbar (50.82%), Akhola (55.13%) and Beed (55.37%) being the three districts with the lowest vaccination rate for the second dose.