Vaccination Day 101: No end to chaos, woes in Mumbai

Nalin Mehta, 58, who went to take his second dose at a private hospital in Parel on Monday was turned away, saying that vaccines are in short supply

Nalin Mehta, 58, who went to take his second dose at a private hospital in Parel on Monday was turned away, saying that vaccines are in short supply. Ten kilometres away, Mohit Patil had to stand in a queue for two hours at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) jumbo centre to take his second dose. This was the scene across Mumbai, on the 101st day of the vaccination drive which kicked off on January 16, as many above the age of 45 rushed to get their doses.

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The reason: the government has announced that in its third phase from May 1, all citizens aged above 18 years would be allowed to get vaccinated. “It will be chaos and mad rush from May 1 once the new set of people is allowed,” said Patil. He was taking his first dose as many of his neighbours were testing positive.

The relatives of 73-year-old Bharti Shah were anxious as her second dose appointments have been getting cancelled at private hospitals for the past seven days.

“She had stopped her blood thinners for four days, but it extended to eight days. Our family doctor warned that she should take her vaccine fast as she cannot afford to be without the tablets for days together,” said her daughter Pinky Parikh. “We went to multiple centres but they were either closed or there was a waiting period of four hours. As my mother suffers from a lung ailment, it was not possible for her to stand for so long,” added Parikh.

On Monday, many centres turned citizens away citing lack of vaccines while many who were open also exhausted their stock by the day.

Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal talking to the media said, “In the past eight to 10 days, there have been hiccups in the supply and it has been erratic. This has made people restless. In addition, there were many who did not make up their minds for the past few months, but are now rushing to get vaccinated.”

Chahal said the situation will be eased as the whole process is decentralised.

“We have 227 wards and we will open vaccination centres in each ward. Each ward has a population of approximately 50,000 people and this will speed up the process,” he added.