Mumbai: BMC asks private sector to register for next COVID-19 vaccine phase

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The BMC has appealed to the private sector to register as vaccination centres for the next phase that is starting on May 1. Around 90 lakh citizens in the age group of 18-44 are eligible to be inoculated against the novel Coronavirus.

With the next phase starting on May 1, the Public Health Department of the BMC has made an appeal to the private health sector. "The private centres must submit their applications for registration to the Medical Health Officer in their respective wards. The officer can help with the registration process. It will then be easier to register the private vaccination centre on the CoWIN portal," said a civic official.

She added that each vaccination centre must have adequate cold chain facilities for vaccine storage, enough space for the beneficiaries and skilled manpower especially to attend to recipients in case of an adverse reaction.

Meanwhile, the city is struggling with the lack of adequate doses to vaccinate the beneficiaries. The city received 1.58 lakh vaccine doses on Sunday and after Monday's drive, the stock would last two more days, the BMC said.

As the fresh consignment of vaccines was not enough, 21 of the 73 private centres did not open on Monday. Overall, 45,326 beneficiaries received their shot on Monday, and 25,531 of them got their second dose. Out of 45,326 recipients, over 24,000 were senior citizens, over 17,000 were aged 45 and above. Among those who got their first dose, about 12,000 were in the 45-59 age group and 6,600 were senior citizens. The number of second dose recipients was more as the BMC has been giving them priority due to a shortage of vaccines.