Days after inoculating less than 30,000 beneficiaries, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) vaccinated 45,524 beneficiaries on Tuesday, of which 928 were administered with Covaxin. Only four cases with minor side effects were reported.
According to the data, the civic body has, so far, vaccinated 17,53,452 registered beneficiaries since the drive started on January 16. Of these, 6,88,888 senior citizens and 5,19,489 above 45 years of age have been vaccinated.
Amidst the shortage of vaccines across the city, BMC managed to vaccinate less than 40,000 beneficiaries on Monday. According to the data, 39,300 were inoculated in the last 24 hours, of which only 39 were administered with Covaxin.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “The number of beneficiaries will go up in the city as the days pass and as we get more doses. On Monday night, we are expected to be getting additional 120,000 vaccine doses that will last the coming week. However, we need more stock to ensure that we have enough to launch more vaccination centres.”
Senior health officials said the vaccination can only prevent disease and death. Moreover, the true impact of the vaccination will be seen after a month to two months, as you need to take two doses. After 15 days of the second dose, antibodies will be produced. “So many of them who are coming in for vaccination probably are already harbouring the virus. Also, remember that vaccinations do not prevent the infection, but they prevent disease, they prevent deaths and they prevent severe diseases so that you do not land up in a hospital or die. That’s the whole purpose of the vaccination,” he said.
