Mumbai: BMC to give precautionary COVID-19 doses to health workers, elderlies from Monday

Mumbai: After the successful start of teenage vaccination drive, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to give precautionary doses to its health workers, frontline workers and senior citizens with ailments; the exercise will begin from Monday.

Eligible candidates can register their names on CoWin app. The BMC has also allowed walk-in at its centres. Eligible people can take vaccine at BMC centres as well as private hospitals.

This vaccination will be administered under the guidance of Central Government and the National Technical Advisory Group of Immunisation. The BMC has made it clear that beneficiaries should have taken the second dose before 9 months or before 39 weeks to be eligible for the booster.

According to the BMC, there is no compulsion for senior citizens to submit their ailment certificate or papers to vaccination centres but they need to consult with their doctor before going in for the inoculation.

Beneficiaries will get the vaccine free of cost at BMC centres and should not pay more than central government declared rates at private hospitals. There is no different price structure for private hospitals. The BMC has appealed to eligible candidates to take the benefit of vaccination.

"We have enough stock of vaccines. Because of rapid vaccination, there is less hospitalisation in the third wave. Since the beginning, the BMC has emphasized that only massive vaccination can save lives. Therefore, I appeal to senior citizens to take advantage of the booster dose," said Health Committee Chairman Rajul Patel.

Published on: Saturday, January 08, 2022, 11:07 PM IST