Mumbai: Vaccination drive for 45+ only for 5 hours today

Amid the shortage of vaccine stock, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will conduct the vaccination drive for the 45+ age group only for five hours on Monday

Amid the shortage of vaccine stock, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will conduct the vaccination drive for the 45+ age group only for five hours on Monday.

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The BMC had received a stock of around 200,000 vaccine doses in the past one week, which has nearly exhausted. Further, 14 new vaccination centres are also expected to function in the city from Monday.

According to BMC officials, the stock that is left is not sufficient to vaccinate around 40,000-50,000 citizens. The BMC, in a statement on Monday, said the vaccination drive will only be open between noon and 5 pm. However, the BMC did not specify how much stock was remaining nor did it announce how many vaccine doses are expected to arrive in the city.

At the time of going to the press, Mangala Gomare, chief of BMC’s public health department, said, “We are running low on stock, and exactly how many centres will run on Monday for 45+ will be announced late in the night. We are awaiting reports from every centre on how much stock they have with them, based on which we will take a decision.”

However, vaccination for the 18-44 age group will continue normally between 9am and 5pm. The BMC also announced addition of two new centres, including Dindoshi Hall in Malad and Rajasthan Seva Sangh in Malad, for vaccination of the 18-44 age group.

Additionally, 12 new centres will open for the 45+ age group starting Monday. These include MCGM Welfare Centre (Chakala), Shri Gurunanak Gurudwara (Andheri), Squatters Colony Welfare Center (Jogeshwari), Jain Mandir (Andheri), Shastri Nagar Health Post (Borivali), Navagaon Health Post (Borivali), St Michael Church (Mahim), Riddhi Garden (Malad), Shardaben Patel Ground Hall (Malad), Municipal Eye Hospital (Kamathipura), St Isabel School Hall (Reay Road) and Atal Smriti Udyan (Borivali).

Meanwhile, on Sunday, only 19,631 citizens were vaccinated in the city, of which 3,289 were in the age group of 18 to 44, 7,727 in the age group of 45 to 59, 7,052 in the age group of 60+ and the remaining were health care and frontline workers. Overall, 2,700,431 citizens have been vaccinated in the city since January 16.