After shutting vaccination centres, BMC receives 99,000 doses of Covishield

Mumbai was facing vaccine crunches since Friday and the civic body suspended vaccination programmes across private centres till April 12.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Saturday it has received 99,000 doses of Covishield, the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), and that it will distribute them to civic and government-run inoculation centres. Vaccine shortage in Mumbai led to the temporary halting of vaccination across 75 vaccination centres in the city on Friday. The Bandra Kurla Complex, which has a mega vaccination centre set up, stopped operations on Friday morning due to a shortage of vaccines.

A man walks with his bicycle in front of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) building and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai. (REUTERS)

The civic body announced on Friday evening that Covid-19 vaccination will be halted at all private centres till April 12 because of the shortage of vaccines and centres run by the government and the municipality will administer the shots to people on April 10 and April 11.

“The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received 99,000 doses of Covishield Covid-19 vaccine which will now be distributed to civic and government-run vaccine centres,” the civic body said.

The Maharashtra government and the Centre blamed each other over vaccine allotment over the past week. Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope claimed that the state has been allotted fewer vaccines than it needs and demanded more doses from the Centre. Union health minister Harsh Vardhan refuted the allegations and accused the state government of dragging its heels over Covid-19 vaccination and also claimed that the government is trying to shift the blame to vaccine allotment to hide its failure to contain the surge.

Mumbai's mayor Kishori Pednekar warned on Friday that vaccine shortage could hit the city’s vaccination drive. “There are several vaccination centres that have no vaccines now and vaccination drive has come to a halt in those centres. I have come to know that around 76,000 to 100,000 doses are about to reach Mumbai by today but I don't have any official info on this,” Pednekar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI on Friday.