A total of 683 out of the 900 shortlisted beneficiaries have so far been vaccinated in the first three days of the Covid-19 immunization drive conducted by the health department of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) till Wednesday, January 20.
Vaccinations have been planned at three centers including a private hospital in Mira Road, the jumbo Covid-19 facility in Bhayandar (east) and Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Civil Hospital in Bhayandar (west).
As per government guidelines, 100 doses per vaccination center have to be administered to beneficiaries per day. 268 (89%) out of the 300 short-listed health workers were vaccinated on the first day (January 16), following which the drive was suspended for two days on Sunday and Monday owing to technical glitches in the Cowin application. After resumption, the count was reduced to 194 (65%) and 221 (74%) on Tuesday (January 19) and Wednesday (January 20) respectively.
The overall average of vaccination stands at 76 per cent in the first three days. Meanwhile, the MBMC is aiming to vaccinate around a total of 6,312 health workers on four days of a week which includes Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. According to senior officials in the healthcare department, none of the beneficiaries reported about facing any major adverse effects following the vaccination, however, nearly 40 people complained of minor adverse events following immunization (AEFI) involving mild fever, headache and body pain.
However, none of them needed hospitalization, officials said. A list of around 6,312 medicos and front-line workers from 21 public and 671 private healthcare establishments who have been enrolled in the central government created mobile application will receive the vaccine in the first phase. The MBMC has received its first batch of 8,000 doses of Covishield vaccines from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).
