Mumbai civic body identifies 50 lakh who will get Covid-19 vaccine shots

Under its vaccine distribution plan, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified close to 50 lakh people that will be vaccinated in all three phases.

Under its vaccine distribution plan, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified close to 50 lakh people that will be vaccinated in all three phases. The civic body is in the process of uploading its details on the Co-WIN application. These individuals are healthcare workers, frontline workers and senior citizens. Senior civic officials said that uploading of details on CoWIN app will make vaccination easier.

Healthcare workers during Covid screening and swab test at Goregaon. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

As per BMC’s plan, healthcare workers will get the Covid-19 shots in the first phase of vaccination, followed by frontline workers such as police force and conservancy workers in the second phase. In the third phase, citizens above the age of 50 and those suffering from comorbidities will be vaccinated. As per the surveys conducted under ‘My Family My Responsibility’ initiative, there are more than 30 lakh individuals that are above 50 years of age.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (health), said, “Our teams of vaccinators have completed their trainings and we may pursue something similar to dry runs by next week in order to ensure that everything is in place. Once the data of beneficiaries is uploaded on the CoWIN app, it will bring in ease in the process of vaccination. I will be taking stock of our storage facilities over the weekend and will be reviewing our distribution plan.”

Vaccine distribution plan

An area of 5,000 square feet on the first floor of BMC’s five-storey building at Kanjurmarg has been identified as the centralised spot for storing the vaccine. The facility will have two walk-in coolers (WIC) and one walk-in freezer (WIF). WIC will have a capacity of 40 cubic metres and will maintain temperature upto -80 degree Celsius, while WIF will have a capacity of 20 cubic metres and will maintain temperature between -15 and -250 degree Celsius. 17 ice-lined refrigerators (ILR), each with a capacity of 225 litres, will be supplied by the state government. Eight of the refrigerators have been delivered to the eight identified vaccination centres.

There will be eight civic hospitals (King Edward Memorial Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital, Cooper hospital, Sion hospital, Bhabha hospitals at Kurla and Bandra, Rajawadi Hospital and the Jogeshwari trauma hospital) that will be utilised for administering the vaccine to the healthcare workers in 15 days after the vaccine arrives. The second dose will be administered in 15 days after a buffer of 28 days. At each of these centres, three teams will be working in two shifts. Each team will comprise a vaccinator, a person to verify beneficiary details, and support staff.