As it prepares for an unprecedented vaccination drive, BMC anticipates minor niggles with tech, time-starved workers, but promises all issues that arise will be quickly addressed
A man garlands a refrigerated truck before it leaves the Serum Institute of India, Pune, with vials of the Covishield vaccine. Pic/AFP
The first phase of the vaccination drive against COVID-19 is scheduled to start on January 16 across the country. There are doubts about the vaccination regarding technical support as well as after-effects of the vaccine. Centres for storage, transportation and registration are almost ready, but Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials are preparing to tackle last-minute hassles. The BMC has prepared 16 centres including four medical colleges, 11 peripheral and one jumbo centre for the first day of vaccinations.
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Out of the 16, eight centres will be reserved and can start the process within a day as per the number of vaccines given to the city. Officials expect some technical glitches in the first few days. A senior BMC official said, “The app is in the process of upgradation as per the feedback across the country. Some technical issues may arise like someone might not find his or her name on the list or the app might not accept some information.”
Participants in the dry run at the Jumbo Centre at BKC
‘Two mindsets about vaccine’
The city conducted a trial run for the vaccination last week and some issues like more than half an hour for a single injection, technical errors in the mobile app, etc. arose. “This is the first of its kind massive vaccination programme and people have so much on their minds. There are also two mindsets about the vaccines. We have to deal with anxiety also,” said the official.
He added, “The health workers are being trained for the vaccination drive. They will need some time to settle. These issues will be resolved eventually once the system is up and running.”
Medical staff inject a patient in the presence of Dean Dr Pinakin Gujjar at Cooper Hospital during the dry run. Pic/Satej Shinde
Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “The city is ready to conduct the vaccination drive. There is no need to panic. If any issue arises we will try to solve it as soon as possible.”
PM to interact
A video conference facility is being set up at Dr R N Cooper hospital for the Prime Minister’s speech on the first day. The BKC jumbo facility and Rajawadi hospital will also have a conferencing facility as a backup. PM Narendra Modi will interact with recipients or trained staff on the first day.
Healthcare workers will be registered as per the hospital address and not as per their residential address. “Many workers stay outside the city. It will be difficult to track them as per their residential address. So we decided to register them as per hospitals,” said Kakani.
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Day in Jan the vaccinations are supposed to start
Mumbai to get 1.5 lakh vaccines, 1st lot to be stored in Parel
The COVID-19 vaccines for the first phase of vaccination will arrive in the city on Wednesday. The first lot will be stored in facilities in Parel, that have a capacity of six lakh vaccines.
Vaccines from Serum Institute, Pune are being sent across the country. “Mumbai will get the vaccines by Wednesday. We don’t know how many vaccines will arrive. But we have the capacity to store up to six lakh at the Parel facility,” said Dr Mangla Gomare, BMC’s executive health officer.
The city is expected to get around 1.5 lakhs vials. With each dose being 0.5 ml, if the vials are of 5 ml each, they can vaccinate 10 people. If the vials are of 2.5 ml each, they can vaccinate 5 people. “Even if the city gets 1.5 lakh vaccines of smaller size, they can be used to inoculate 3.75 lakh people as each person needs two doses,” said an official from the BMC.
The vaccine was supposed to be stored at the Kanjurmarg cold storage facility measuring 5,000 sq ft with a capacity to store 1.2 crore vials. “If the number of vaccines exceeds 10 lakh, then the Kanjurmarg facility can be used. Otherwise, smaller batches will be directly sent to the four medical colleges, too. For the first batch, a facility at the Health Department, Parel will be used,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner.
The BMC can vaccinate 10,000-12,000 people daily at its eight centres. There are 1.6 lakh health workers registered for vaccination in the first phase. The number of vaccination centres will be increased eventually for large-scale vaccination.
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