Mumbai civic body holds Covid vaccination drive for women only

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday held its second women-only Covid-19 vaccination drive at all public vaccination centres in Mumbai

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday held its second women-only Covid-19 vaccination drive at all public vaccination centres in the city. The first such drive was held on September 17, with a total of 127,000 women getting vaccinated at public and private centres through the day. The BMC decided to conduct a special women-only vaccination drive to reduce the gender disparity in vaccination.

The first such Covid vaccination drive for women only in Mumbai was held on September 17 (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

On Tuesday, the drive will be held exclusively for students and teachers during the first half of the day between 9am and 2pm, and for citizens due to get their second dose in the second half of the day between 3pm and 8pm. In the afternoon session, no one will be given a first dose at any public vaccination centres. Students and teachers are required to carry their identity cards along with a government-issued identity proof.

According to information available on the CO-WIN portal, as of Monday morning, for every 13 men who have got vaccinated in Mumbai, 10 women have been vaccinated. While a total of 5,218,652 women have been vaccinated, 7,000,944 men have been vaccinated in the city so far; 2,900 other citizens have been vaccinated.

Authorities have attributed the lower vaccination rate in women in Mumbai to women being more busy managing both work from home and household and partly to the government leaving out lactating mothers and pregnant women from the vaccination drive in the initial months of the drive. While vaccination began on January 16 for health care and frontline workers, and for citizens above the age of 18 from May 1, it was started for pregnant women and lactating mothers by the end of May.

A senior civic officer from BMC’s public health department said, “That can be one of the reasons why more men are vaccinated in comparison to women in Mumbai. But the other reason is also that women, during the pandemic lockdown, are simply more busy. Stepping out for vaccination means they have to consider the travel time, the wait time at the vaccination centre for their turn, while managing work from home, and the household. That is why BMC held the special drive to encourage more women to come, with shorter wait time and no uncertainty of vaccine doses getting over mid-way.” BMC received 300,000 vaccine doses on Saturday.

“In Mumbai, in some cases it also holds true that digital literacy and lack of public transport during lockdown affected women’s turnout for vaccination,” an educator in gender studies and health, from a reputed Mumbai based education institute said. She did not wish to be named.

During Monday’s special drive, 113,935 women were vaccinated at public vaccination centres in the city, and a total of 126,419 women were vaccinated, including private centres’ vaccination figures.

So far, 7,987,510 beneficiaries have received their first dose, and 3,898,711 beneficiaries have received their second dose.