Covid vaccine supply falls by 44% in Mumbai in May compared to April: BMC data

Mumbai’s vaccine supply saw a huge fall of 44% in May compared to that of April

Mumbai’s vaccine supply saw a huge fall of 44% in May compared to that of April. This also resulted in fewer citizens getting inoculated in May compared to April and March, reveals the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data.

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According to BMC data, the vaccine supply was 523,440 doses in May 2021, down from 947,500 doses in April. The city has received a total of 3,117,890 doses since January 16, when the vaccination started in the city.

In January, vaccination started only for healthcare workers, later the frontline workers were added. Starting March, senior citizens were added, followed by those above 45 years of age. From May 1, those between the age group of 18 to 44 were also allowed to get vaccinated. However, with the increase in citizens eligible for vaccination, the supply went down, resulting in fewer citizens getting the jab in May 2021.

The BMC got 265,000 vaccine doses in January when 33,505 beneficiaries were vaccinated; in February 571,000 vaccine doses were received and 187,805 citizens were vaccinated, while in March 810,950 doses were received and 931,664 were vaccinated.

Further, in April, 947,500 vaccines were received when 1,275,652 were vaccinated, while in May 523,440 vaccine doses were received and 847,415 were vaccinated.

However, the number of vaccines received does not match with the beneficiary numbers, as one has to also consider the wastage and the number of citizens vaccinated by private hospitals.

On Thursday, vaccination remained suspended in the government and civic-run vaccination centres owing to the shortage of vaccine doses. However, private hospitals continued to undertake vaccination. As of June 2, 3,374261 citizens were vaccinated in the city.

Meanwhile, Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner of the BMC said, “We have thought of various plans to increase the vaccination in the city and also bring ease when it comes to vaccination. This includes having more vaccination centres and having mobile applications to inform about vaccination. However, the problem is with the shortage of doses. We are hoping to get more vaccine doses from the direct procurement by the BMC via tenders or from the efforts of the state government.”