Mumbai's COVID-19 vaccination drive: Only 77 per cent turnout of healthcare workers

26 January,2021 05:34 AM IST |  Mumbai  |  A Correspondent

BMC officials say they decided at the last minute to call only 6,500 workers for inoculation instead of the 9,550 who were on the list

Workers wait for vaccination at Ambedkar Hospital on Monday. Pic/Satej Shinde


On the first day of the inoculation drive this week on Monday, the turnout of healthcare workers was 77 per cent, at around 5,005. This was less than the response the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received last Friday and Saturday. However, on Sunday night, the BMC itself had decided to not call all the 9,550 health care workers on its list and called 6,500 instead. Officials said the number will increase on Wednesday.

On Monday, the 10 vaccination centres functioned with 65 booths. Bharatratna Dr Ambedkar Municipal General Hospital at Kandivli, inoculated the most, 860 odd health workers. The progressive total of the inoculation of health workers is about 18,202 so far. On Monday at least 10 recipients reported adverse effects and were kept under observation for 30 minutes and then discharged.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, "We are expecting a larger turnout. We will be calling more beneficiaries starting Wednesday."

Trouble over walk-ins

Some civic hospitals that are running vaccination centres are facing trouble over walk-in registrations. The BMC centres are inoculating even those who are not registered by uploading their data on the spot, thus delaying the process of those who are registered.

A senior doctor at Cooper Hospital said, "There are few cases where the doctors are directly approaching us for vaccines and we have to ensure that they are first registered. Only after the approval about their registration comes that we vaccinate them. This is a very time consuming effort and is delaying our regular vaccination drive."

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