Covid vaccination drive disrupted in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel

TMC received 3,000 doses of Covishield on Wednesday evening after the drive was suspended for an entire day. With the new stock, around eight vaccination centres with Covishield vaccine will be functional on Thursday. The Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) on Wednesday claimed that it would run out of vaccine on Thursday.

The vaccination drive in Thane, Panvel and Navi Mumbai was affected owing to shortage of vaccines on Wednesday. While the drive in Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) was completely suspended apart from one centre administrating second dose of Covaxin, the Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) too had to shut 22 vaccination centres following a shortage of vials.

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TMC received 3,000 doses of Covishield on Wednesday evening after the drive was suspended for an entire day. With the new stock, around eight vaccination centres with Covishield vaccine will be functional on Thursday.

Majiwada vaccination centre, which administered only Covaxin booster dose, saw some chaos with several citizens claiming that despite waiting in long queue, they did not get the jab.

“They should have asked us to wait according to the available dosages of vaccine; I waited for almost an hour with my aged mother for her booster dose. This is my fourth visit and attempt to get her the second dose but did not help. There is no clarity and proper announcements made on behalf of the civic body,” said Ashwini Salatry, 44, resident of Vrindavan society.

Thane mayor Naresh Mhaske said, “We did not have any stock of Covishield vaccine till Wednesday evening. Only 300 dosages of Covaxin were available only for booster dose. The post-Covid care centre in Majiwada administered only second doses of Covaxin.”

Last month, opposition leaders had made allegations that TMC was permitting many, including politicians, civic officials and their family and friends, to take vaccine out of turn. They cited similar instances of mismanagement to be the reason for the shortage of vaccine in the city.

“Depending on the number of doses that we have received and based on the requirement, we are providing vaccines to the respective municipal corporations. On Wednesday evening, we provided few vials to all civic bodies,” said a senior official from Thane District.

The Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) on Wednesday claimed that it would run out of vaccine on Thursday and will have to suspend the drive on Friday if no fresh stock is distributed to them. “We have stock till Thursday. Later on we will have to suspend the vaccination as there will not be any enough vaccine left to continue. We have appealed for more stock, but have no clue when it will arrive,” said a KDMC official, who did not wish to be named.

As of Wednesday, the civic body has a stock of 7,718 vials of Covishield and 8,022 of Covaxin. In a day, the civic body carries out around 4,500 inoculations.

Several residents, however, complained that private hospitals are not administering the second dose of Covishield citing lack of stock. “I have been trying to get my second dose of Covishield since the past three days, but none of the hospitals in Dombivli MIDC have it. My second dose is due and with the increasing number of cases I wanted to get it without delay,” said Raju Nalawade, a resident of Dombivli MIDC.

PCMC, too, suspended vaccination drive on Wednesday. Around 2,000 Covishield vials are expected to reach PCMC on Thursday, following which the centres will start operations for the second dose of Covishield.

Meanwhile, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) received 3,000 vials of Covishield on Wednesday. “Some of the urban primary health centres had to be shut by 12pm and some by 5pm due to lack of stock. If we do not get new stock on Thursday, we will only have NMMC-run hospitals and jumbo facilities to administer vaccination till the stocks last,” said NMMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar.