Mumbai set for 135,000 more Covid-19 vaccine doses

The city received 100,000 vaccine doses on Friday night and was set to get 134,970 more on Saturday night

The city received 100,000 vaccine doses on Friday night and was set to get 134,970 more on Saturday night. Till the time of going to print, the vaccines had not arrived in the city. The stock will facilitate operations at 49 government and civic vaccination centres across the city on Sunday and Monday. These centres, except the Mumbai Port Trust Hospital and RA Poddar Hospital, remained operational on Saturday as well.

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Suresh Kakani, additional civic commissioner, in-charge of public health department, said, “BMC will continue pushing with the government to get more vaccine doses so the drive can resume normally. We received 100,000 doses on Friday night, and are expecting around 135,000 more doses on Saturday night.”

On Sunday, government and municipal vaccination centres will remain operational between 9am and 5pm.

As the state announced a strict lockdown over the weekend, BMC issued a statement allowing citizens, who wish to get vaccinated, to travel to the centres on medical grounds on Saturday and Sunday.

With less than half the number of the total 120 vaccination centres operational, on Saturday only 21,094 beneficiaries were vaccinated in Mumbai, as opposed to its daily average of around 50,000. The 21,094 figure also includes beneficiaries who were vaccinated on Friday evening from the second shift that goes on until 8pm. Private vaccination centres conveyed the figures to the civic body late on Friday night after which they were added to Saturday’s tally.

On Saturday, 17,740 beneficiaries received their first dose, while 3,354 received their second. Of these, 13,822 senior citizens and 2,914 citizens between 45 and 59 years received their first dose, while the second dose was administered to 398 senior citizens and 1,056 beneficiaries in the 45-59 age group.

A total of 615 healthcare workers and 2,289 frontline workers were also vaccinated on Saturday.

At Dharavi and Mahim vaccination centres, 380 and 651 beneficiaries, respectively, were vaccinated on Saturday, and a total of 4,842 beneficiaries have been vaccinated so far in Dharavi. Each day, an average of 300-400 people are vaccinated in Dharavi.

On Friday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) directed all private vaccination centres for the next three days and cancelled all scheduled vaccine drives for the three days. There are 71 such private vaccine centres in the city.

On Friday, as 89 centres had run out of their vaccine stock, only 33,551 beneficiaries were vaccinated. After directing private centres to remain shut, BMC said in a statement, “If more vaccines become available, efforts will be made to resume vaccinations at private hospitals.”

So far, 1,449,710 beneficiaries have received the first dose of their vaccine in Mumbai, while 185,662 have received their second dose.