The district's gender ratio is 1.18 lakh, reflecting the statewide trend of women being at a disadvantage, but in percentage terms, Nagpur outperforms all three larger cities in the drive.
Nagpur vaccinated 7.82 lakh women (46.47 percent), surpassing Mumbai's 45 percent, Pune's 44 percent, and Thane's 45 percent. As of Thursday evening, Mumbai had the highest vaccination rate in the state, with 56.28 lakh doses, followed by Pune with 46.08 lakh and Thane with 25.80 lakh.
Former Nagpur Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society (NOGS) president Dr Vaidehi Marathe stated that women, like men, had some reservations about the Covid vaccination at first.
“There were issues like whether it can be taken during menstrual cycle, or will it cause irregular periods, affect planned pregnancy or infertility treatment.
These factors deterred women from going for the jab. Also, initially the vaccine was not recommended during pregnancy and lactation, which led to a significant number of women being dropped out from the vaccination drive,”she said.
Dr Marathe added that now she doesn’t find hesitancy in the class of women she treats or offers consultancy. “In fact, I am getting many queries especially from pregnant and lactating women if they can take the vaccine,” she said.
According to Dr. Payal Agrawal, a consulting gynaecologist and obstetrician, even though vaccination does not cause side effects in the monthly period or fertility, many patients are still confused.
Dr Agrawal added that housewives suffer as they don’t have access to vaccine. “Some housewives are still not vaccinated because of lack of awareness in the male partner. Offices have more men, who are getting the jab at the workplace,”she said.
Meanwhile, Joshi stated that the district has been allocated 40,000 Covishield and 4,000 Covaxin doses, of which the city will receive 60%. These 24,000 Covishield and 2,500 Covaxin doses are expected to be distributed to city residents on Saturday. The remainder would be used in rural areas.
