Mumbai civic body seeks vaccination status from housing societies in Mumbai

According to BMC officials, this will help them issue certificates to societies where all members are fully vaccinated and also help them understand the need for hyperlocal centres to vaccinate the unvaccinated

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started issuing request letters to housing societies in the city asking them details of the vaccination status of the eligible population in their society, including maids, gardeners, milkmen etc.

A healthcare worker inoculates a beneficiary against Covid-19 during a free vaccination camp at Ganesh Chowk, Andheri (West), in Mumbai. (HT PHOTO)

According to BMC officials, this will help them issue certificates to societies where all members are fully vaccinated and also help them understand the need for hyperlocal centres to vaccinate the unvaccinated.

In one such notice issued by the BMC to the housing society, it states, “As everyone is aware of the current Covid-19 scenario in the country and the threat of the third wave, there is a need to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. This includes maintaining social distance, washing hands frequently and getting vaccinated. The virus has not been completely eradicated and caution is needed to prevent the surge. The vaccination is the only way forward to prevent this. Hence, kindly request you to provide vaccination status of your society members, maids, security guards, milkman, laundry person, gardener etc.”

Mrudula Ande, assistant municipal commissioner of the BMC’s R North ward that covers Dahisar and Borivli area said, “We have over 1,900 societies in our ward, and we have initiated the exercise to understand the situation of vaccination in these societies. Ultimately, this will only help in reaching the goal of 100% vaccination status.”

Ande added, “By this exercise, we can also understand the vaccination session pattern required and which area requires how many vaccine doses. We will also be issuing certificates to societies where all the eligible members are fully vaccinated. We are taking help from the elected representatives and are taking up similar drives in the slums too.”

In the city, there are around 40,000 housing societies and around half of the city’s 12.4 million population resides in slums. On Monday, the BMC launched the logo, that has a QR code pasted on it. This logo will be given to societies having all their adult population fully vaccinated. These certificates will be pasted outside the housing societies indicating that the society is safe. Similarly, the BMC also plans to set up vaccination centres in clusters of 15-20 societies after getting the required data.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, 87,229 citizens were vaccinated taking the total to 12,912,602. Out of the total, 4,507,809 citizens are fully vaccinated.