Mumbai: BMC vaccinates over 20,000 people for COVID-19

Amidst the shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) managed to vaccinate more than 20,000 beneficiaries on Friday. According to its data, 22,686 beneficiaries were inoculated in the last 24 hours, of which 3,850 beneficiaries fell in the age group of 18 to 44 years.

Meanwhile, the civic body has decided that the vaccination drive will be held on a walk-in basis for three days for those above 60 years of age from Monday to Wednes- day and on an appointment basis from Thursday to Saturday. It will remain shut on Sunday.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner of BMC said, “For the next week, we will continue the walk-in vaccination drive for those above 60 years of age. However, the week after that, we might change our policy.”

Senior senior civic official said the 45-59 group was equally enthusiastic, but the shortage of stock broke the momentum of the drive. Now, with the gap between two doses of Covishield extended to 12 to 16 weeks, there will be a further delay in completing the vaccination drive. Moreover, private hospitals like Fortis, HN Reliance, Nanavati and Apollo Hospitals are receiving a significant number of queries to set up vaccination camps for residents of housing societies or employees of private establishments.