‘Everyone in Mumbai has not received the first vaccine dose’
An estimated 10% to 20% people who have got the Covid-19 vaccine in Mumbai are likely to be people from other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) or rest of Maharashtra
Mumbai: While Mumbai may have statistically achieved the milestone of 100% full dose coverage, the city will have to administer many more doses to truly cover its entire adult population. Reason: an estimated 10% to 20% people who have got the Covid-19 vaccine in Mumbai are likely to be people from other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) or rest of Maharashtra.
“We are definitely accounting for this slight mismatch, and therefore, our vaccination drive will continue aggressively,” said Mumbai’s executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare. “We will have to reach much beyond 100%,” she said.
The nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive began on January 16. While it was opened in phases starting with health care workers, frontline workers and then for the senior citizens and people above 45 years with comorbid conditions. By April, the city had started grappling with vaccine shortages. Similar shortages were felt in other parts of the MMR.
“Since Mumbai had more vaccination centres, many people from other parts of MMR travelled to get a jab in Mumbai. At the same time, people from Mumbai also travelled outside to get the jabs as there were phases of severe shortages when people could not find vaccine slots here,” said Dr Gomare adding that it is hard to estimate the exact number of other residents who have taken the shots in Mumbai centres. Going by the rough estimates, the civic body plans to achieve an additional 10% to 20% coverage and continue to drive to expand the second dose coverage.
FEBRUARY TARGET FOR 100% TWO DOSE COVERAGE
Over six million second doses have been administered in the city, taking the full vaccination coverage to 65%. According to Dr Gomare, the civic body is hopeful to cover the entire target population with two doses by February. “We have already written to the Centre urging them to reduce the 84-day gap between two doses of Covishield. Now that we have the vaccine doses as well as the capacity to administer them, we will be able to fully immunise our population much faster if the gap is reduced,” she said.
A majority of the doses (over 13 million) administered in Mumbai were of Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. The Centre has mandated a 84-day gap between two doses of Covishield. More than 1.4 million doses were of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin which has 28 day gap between two doses. A little over 55,800 doses were of Sputnik V by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute which had a 21 day gap between two doses.