In Mumbai, only 2,659 pregnant women have been inoculated so far even though the city has over 1.6 lakh pregnant women who are eligible to get vaccinated.
Civic officials said that despite counselling the women during prenatal treatment, 98 per cent of them refused to get the jab due to fear and misconceptions.
The mass immunization programme for pregnant women was started by the Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) on July 15. However, the response is lukewarm, even after three months around 1.6 per cent of the pregnant women have been vaccinated. Only 869 have been fully vaccinated out of them.
“We have been trying to raise awareness about the need for vaccination among pregnant women. We have pasted posters in the maternity and paediatric wards and OPDs but people are still speculative about taking the vaccine,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC.
“We have been sensitizing them about the safety and benefits of the vaccines, Though they initially show interest to get the jab, 98 per cent opt out later,” said Dr Arun Nayak, head of the gynaecology department at Sion hospital, which annually conducts around 13,000 deliveries. “When a woman is pregnant, she only cares about her child, which scares her from taking the jab,” he added.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that the public health department is also trying to raise awareness among pregnant women through ASHA and Anganwadi workers in rural parts of the state.
