Covid-19: Another two months before jabs for 18+ can take off in Mumbai

Citizens wait after getting their jab at the vaccination centre of Nair hospital on Friday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Although the interval between two Covishield shots has been extended to 84 days and many have already taken their second dose, the civic body has said that it is still facing a shortage and is far from considering resumption of the drive for those aged between 18 and 44.

Civic officials said that there is a huge population in the age group of 44 to 59 which is yet to be vaccinated. With the number of people qualified for the second dose being less after the extension, it would be concentrating on this group.

A woman gets vaccinated at Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal General Hospital in Kandivli on Friday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Amid the vaccine shortage, the BMC has also resumed online registrations and stopped walk-ins. With a huge number of centres available, officials said that getting an appointment won't be a problem. According to sources, the working population would have to wait another two months as the BMC plans to vaccinate them after procuring the consignment of the new Sputnik V vaccine.

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The city has so far inoculated hardly 16 lakh beneficiaries over the age of 45. "Citizens in the age group of 45 to 59 still remain to be vaccinated. Apart from senior citizens, we are also focussing on this group. When the vaccination of 18 to 44 started, we faced too much shortage. Hence, we are planning appropriately and will start inoculating the working population only when we have enough doses in hand," an official said.

A citizen gets his jab at Antop Hill, Wadala, on Friday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Currently, the city is receiving hardly 30,000 to one lakh doses from the state government. It plans to procure its own stock and has invited expressions of interest. Civic officials said that by next Tuesday, they will know if more doses are to come and the inoculation of those aged 18 to 44 years will be decided.

More than 22,000 got their Covid-19 shots at various centres on Friday

On Friday, there were about 22,686 beneficiaries who were inoculated at several civic, government and private centres. There were two cases of adverse effects that were reported on Friday. The city has so far inoculated 29,29,757 beneficiaries, out of which 7,30,553 lakh have been administered both doses. The turnout of senior citizens was 4,017 whereas those people aged 45 and above was 14,466 and the number of health care workers who were administered vaccine shots was barely 168. There were 185 front line workers who got the jab and 3,850 beneficiaries in age group 18-44 got jabs at private hospitals. BMC has reiterated that walk-ins have been shut.