Mumbai: Dose 2 target doubles; 23 lakh people yet to get their first shot

People wait for their turn to be vaccinated at Nair Hospital. Pic/Suresh Karkera

While more than 3 lakh people are still waiting to get their second vaccine dose, another 18 lakh will complete 84 days since their first shot by the end of September. The task of vaccinating the city's population is getting tougher by the day for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, as 23 lakh people have still not got their first dose, while 21 lakh will need the second dose soon. Out of the 21 lakh, 15 lakh are in the 18 to 44 years group.

Of the 11 lakh people, who were eligible for their second dose in August, 7.18 lakh received it by August 30. Though the civic body has said that they would reserve 70 per cent of the doses for second shots, they could not deny those who came in for their first shots. In August, over 65 per cent of the doses (13.63 lakh) were given as first shots and 7.18 lakh doses were administered as second ones.

A woman gets her shot at Mahalaxmi. Pic/Ashish Raje

Out of the total 20.81 lakh doses administered, 13.66 lakh were given to those in the 18 to 44 years group, 5 lakh to people between 45 and 59 years, 1.80 lakh to senior citizens and the rest to lactating mothers, pregnant women, bedridden citizens, frontline workers and so on.

Of the 21 lakh people who will be eligible for the second dose by September-end, most are in the 18 to 44 years group. Even though vaccination for this age group was approved for private centres in May, public centres started administering the jabs only after June 21. Out of 21 lakh citizens eligible for the second dose, 15.1 lakh are from the 18 to 44 years group, 3.3 lakh from the 45 to 59 years group and 2.4 lakh senior citizens.

A beneficiary gets vaccinated at Swaminarayan temple in Mahalaxmi on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal has already given instructions to cover as many citizens as possible amid the warning of the third wave. "If we get enough stock, we can administer 1 lakh doses within a single day. The infrastructure is ready, hope the supply improves further," said a BMC official.

Pvt centres administer more vaccine doses

>> Of the 20.81 lakh people who got their vaccine doses in August, more than half (10.63 lakh) took it at private centres. Public centres administered only a little over 10 lakh doses.

A queue for vaccination at Priyadarshini Park, last week

7.18L
No. of people given second dose till Aug 30

11L
Those eligible for 2nd dose in August

10L
Total doses civic body got in August

21L
Those eligible for 2nd dose in September