Mumbai just 15K doses short of vaccinating 100% adult population

Mumbai: The city needs only 15,000 Covid-19 vaccinations for its adult population to achieve the 100% target, according to the officials of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)

Mumbai: The city needs only 15,000 Covid-19 vaccinations for its adult population to achieve the 100% target, according to the officials of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). By Tuesday, the civic body said, it may reach the 100% mark of fully vaccinating the adults.

Huge crowd at Juhu Beach after the government removed all Covid 19 restrictions. (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

So far, a total of 9,482,393 doses of the second shot have been administered in the civic, state-operated, and private vaccination centres in the city. While its original target adult population was 92.3 lakh, the latest figure is beyond the target as it also includes just turned - 18-year-old adults.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner in-charge of BMC’s public health department said, “As of Friday, Mumbai is approximately 15,000 doses short of achieving 100% vaccination among its adult population. The 100% target will be achieved either on Monday or Tuesday.” Vaccination in municipal and state-operated vaccination centres was closed on Saturday and Sunday and will resume on Monday.

Until Friday, a total of 20,563,140 (2.05 crore) doses have been administered since January 16, 2021, of which 10,672,748 are the first dose, 9,482,393 are the second dose, and 40,7999 are the precaution doses.

Of these, 12,924,911 doses have been administered in municipal vaccination centres, 930,996 doses have been administered in state and central government-operated centres, and 6,366,946 doses have been administered in private vaccination centres.

Presently, 310 Covid-19 vaccination centres across the city are operational, of which 160 are municipal, 18 - state, and 132 private.

However, at the peak of the vaccination drive between June and November 2021, Mumbai had over 400 Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVCs) operational.

Mumbai achieved a 100% vaccination mark of the first dose on November 13, 2021. Experts and authorities said the vaccination helped Mumbai mitigate the impact of the third wave, and helped in mortality and severity of the infection.

Dr Rahul Pandit, a part of the state Covid-19 task force said, “Since vaccines are not meant to have a sterilising effect, the number of cases kept coming during the third wave, but we had fewer ICU admissions and fewer patients with severe infections.”