Dearth of doses pushes Mumbai into vaccination slump

Mumbai is witnessing a slouching pace in vaccination drive due to the supply shortages in the city. A day after suspending Covid-19 vaccination across 300 centres on Thursday, BMC conducted the vaccination for a limited period of three hours on Friday. According to BMC officials, vaccination across 281 civic-run centres and 20 government centres will be conducted between 2 pm to 5 pm only, as the doses of the vaccine are falling short.

Mumbai created a record in June with ‘ramp-up in vaccination’ wherein 1 lakh doses were administered daily, nevertheless, the inoculation drive has now slowed down in the city since the past two days as the supplies have dried up. Private centres have once again taken a lead in administering the doses. Additional chief secretary Dr. Pradeep Vyas said fresh stocks are expected to arrive by July 2, adding that the rate of vaccination depends on the availability of doses. The state is expecting to receive 9-10 lakh doses, which may suffice for a few days.

Suresh Kakani, the additional municipal commissioner, said that “they are hoping to receive some stocks on Thursday. If they arrive, we will resume vaccination from Friday”.

“Citizens of Mumbai are constantly informed about the extent to which the stock of vaccines will be obtained and appropriate decisions are taken. Vaccinations will be resumed once vaccine stocks become available. A humble appeal is being made to the citizens of Mumbai to cooperate with the BMC administration,” read the official press statement of the BMC.

Maharashtra health minister, Rajesh Tope had said the number of people who had taken the first dose was significant but the number of fully vaccinated was far from desirable. In Mumbai, 10.72 lakh people have taken both doses and nearly 33lakh have taken the first dose. Of the 63,579 doses administered in Mumbai on Wednesday, 36,054 were in private and 27,525 were at the public centres.