Ahead of the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive the inoculation for all above 18 years of age won't exactly begin from May 1 in Mumbai. IAS officer and Additional Municipal Commissioner of the Mumbai Municipal corporation Ashwini Bhide today said that vaccination for the new age group may not exactly start from May 1 due to shortage of vaccines.
The additional commisioner at the civic body tweeted that "Vaccination for the new age group will start only after enough vaccines are made available, and not exactly on 1st May."
Although she said that senior citizens need not worry that they would be deprived of the Covid vaccine dose when the new round of vaccinations began for all adults.
She wrote, "Please wait till we have adequate vaccine stock and you can get your jab without having to stand in long queues. We will continue to put out more details."
She also said that those who have taken their 1st dose are reasonably protected. Even if there is a slight delay in getting their 2nd dose that should not be a major problem. Senior citizens should not get scared because of that.
The IAS officer further revealed that even when new drive for 18-44 year age group starts, the centres available now will continue to remain active for 45+ years citizens. BMC will add at least 500 more public and Pvt CVCs for new drive. So vaccination for 45 plus shall not be compromised or slowed down.
She has urged all senior citizens to not crowd or stand in long queues at the vaccination centres.
Yesterday, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that the vaccination drive cannot be launched in the state because of the unavailability of sufficient amount of doses.
Tope also said the people in the age group of 18 to 44 will receive free vaccines at state-run centres but they will have to pay for the jabs at private facilities.
Meanwhile, the BMC received a fresh stock of Covishield last night and it was to be distributed only in Government and civic hospitals/centres (not private) today morning.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, amid the shortage of the COVID-19 vaccine across Mumbai, the BMC managed to vaccinate more than 40,000 registered beneficiaries.
