Mumbai: Senior citizens can line up for vaccine on March 1

Those caught not wearing a mask properly are seen trying to talk things out with a BMC marshal at Dadar West on Saturday. The fine for not wearing a mask in public is Rs 200. Pic/Ashish Raje

The vaccination drive for Mumbai's senior citizens i.e. those 60 years old and above, will begin from March 1. While it will be free for those citizens taking the protective shots at government hospitals, a dose at a private hospital will cost Rs 250. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will on Sunday meet with 40 private hospitals that are empanelled with the government before rolling out the shots from Monday to ask for their willingness to conduct sessions at their hospitals.

The CoWIN application has not yet been opened for public and will be made available for download through Google Play Store for Android users as it is likely to be open for registrations from Sunday. Civic officials said that one can get themselves registered for the drive through the Aarogya Setu app as well. Not just this, one can also walk in and get themselves registered and get the vaccine shots.

While registering themselves online, one will have to share their Aadhar card number so that the age can be confirmed, said officials. One family can have a maximum of five registrations through one cellphone, they added. There were apprehensions that no training was given to a majority of the staff, but BMC officials said that training would be conducted on Sunday.

Comorbidity list not ready
Citizens between the age group of 45 to 59 with comorbidities will be eligible for the vaccination. However, guidelines relating to what all comorbidities will be allowed to be taken into consideration, are expected to come in on Sunday, said officials.

But, officials said that one has to carry a doctor's certificate to give proof of comorbidities. While the vaccination drive is currently going one at various private hospitals in the city for healthcare and frontline workers, the guidelines received so far have stated that only those hospitals that are empanelled will be allowed to conduct the drives.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said, "We have received instructions to start phase II from March 1 and one can avail this benefit at the government and municipal hospitals along with empanelled private hospitals. We will be asking the 40 listed private hospitals whether they want to conduct the drive or not, and if they are interested we will give them training and they can conduct the sessions."

Further, the BMC will use existing stock of vaccine doses for phase II of the inoculation drive as it is expecting another consignment of the vaccines in the next two three days, said officials.

20,000 fined
Nearly 20,000 people were fined on Friday across the city, in a joint action between the Mumbai police, the Railways and the BMC, for not wearing masks. As cases rise in the city, the BMC has sprung into action against those flouting COVID-19 guidelines. The BMC also filed FIRs against marriage halls in H east ward for not following the safety protocols.

Action was against 15,283 by the BMC persons without masks and a total fine of over R30 lakh was levied. The police collected R8,10,600, while the railways, across the three lines, fined 513 passengers, collecting Rs 1,02,600. On Friday, a surprise raid was conducted by the ward officials against wedding halls in CST Road, Kalina and Santa Cruz East. It was found that the parties were accommodating more than 200 people.