Covid-19 vaccination to resume in Mumbai from Friday after stocks arrive

Covid-19 vaccination drive in Greater Mumbai municipal corporation had to be stopped on Wednesday owing to lack of supply of doses.

After grappling with shortages of Covid-19 vaccines for days, the municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai said it would receive 50,000 doses of Covishield and 11,200 shots of Covaxin on Wednesday night.

Maharashtra has frequently reported a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines doses ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced universal adult vaccination against the viral infection. (AFP)

The civic body said the doses would be distributed to various government-run vaccination centres and those under its jurisdiction on Thursday, so as to resume the inoculation drive from Friday onwards, news agency ANI posted on Twitter quoting officials familiar with the development.

The civic body had to hit the pause button on the vaccination drive on Wednesday owing to non-availability of doses while it operated only 58 of the 309 vaccination centres on Tuesday.

Maharashtra reported a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines doses a few days ago, three weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced universal adult vaccination against the viral infection.

Even as Maharashtra remains the state with highest number of vaccinated people, its health minister Rajesh Tope had last week told the assembly that the stocks were depleting, prompting several of its districts to halt the inoculation drive on days after they ran out of supplies.

The shortage of Covid-19 vaccines coupled with many people flouting health and safety norms necessiated to check the spread of the virus, have raised concerns over the impending third wave of the pandemic.

Mumbai on Wednesday recorded 435 cases of coronavirus infection while 13 people succumbed to the viral disease, taking the active caseload to 6,020.