Some Delayed, Others Were Reluctant: Worrying Pattern in Mumbai as Two-Thirds in Covid ICUs Are Unvaccinated

As Mumbai continues to see new Coronavirus infections, a look at city’s Covid hospitals suggest a pattern in the reason behind ICU admission- unvaccinated patients.

In Andheri’s SevenHills Hospital, 22-year-old Vibha Tiwari from Malad is admitted for Covid-19 and also has a heart condition making her more vulnerable. While Tiwari has been on ICU for six days, her family wished she could have immunized, a report in Times of India said.

In city’s St George Hospital, 40-year-old Anusuya Awghade from Kolhapur has Covid-19 as well as deadly mucormycosis that has affected an eye. His son said that vaccination reached their village late and even when it did, the village would get barely 50-100 doses everyday.

The report stated that in Seven Hills ICU, which has nearly a third of Mumbai’s critical admission, around 68 percent of patients haven’t taken Covid vaccine. Out of the 133 patients, 91 haven’t taken even a single shot.

While in St George Hospital, 7 out of the 8 patients in ICU are unvaccinated. The only exception was one patient who had taken the first dose.

Similar patterns from other hospitals in the city. In Mulund’s Fortis Hospital ICU, five of nine are partially vaccinated and two have had no shots.

In a similar revelation in Nesco Jumbo facility in Goregaon, 93 percent of the 693 Covid deaths occurred since March 2021 among unvaccinated patients.

Families of the victims say that their kins were unwilling to take the jab while others say there was a delay in inoculation before Covid struck them.

Family members of 68-year-old W D’Souza, who has Covid pneumonia, say that he wasn’t willing to take the jab. Family member said that everyone in the family were vaccinated but they couldn’t convince D’Souza to get jabbed.

Similarly, husband of Nasim Bano (62) who is in ICU at St George, said that the two had decided to take jabs on different days in case the side-effects were severe. While the husband took the jab, Bano got Covid-19 before she could take the jab.

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