The Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) has almost completed the preparation for inoculation of frontline warriors. The civic body has submitted the list of such persons to be vaccinated first to the central government as per the guideline of the state government. The civic body has also received two high-end refrigerators from the government for storing COVID 19 vaccines.
Civic chief Sudhakar Deshmukh said that they are also repairing the existing refrigerators to store the maximum quantity of vaccines. “We have almost completed the preparation for initial vaccinations of frontline workers like doctors, nurses, health workers among others, designated persons by the state government,” said Deshmukh. He added that the responsibility of collecting data was given to the district collector. “The collector's office is already working on it for the last two months. From the corporation end, we have updated with the central government online system,” said Deshmukh.
As the vaccine for COVID-19 will come sooner or later, the preparation at the ground level is going on steadily. “Once the civic body receives the guidelines regarding inoculating like a timeline, the civic body will add further necessary infrastructure,” said Deshmukh.
In order to get the vaccine first, many organizations have approached the local body. Last week, a journalist association submitted a letter to the Panvel mayor and demanded that journalists should also be included in the frontline warriors and to be vaccinated first.
There are eight vaccines in the late stage of clinical evaluation around the world. Though there is no official announcement, there are reports floating that it may be available in a few weeks. As the vaccine will be available in a limited number, central as well as the state government are working on who will be first vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the number of active cases has a declining trend in the PMC area. On December 14, only 22 positive cases of COVID 19 were reported. The number of active cases of Coronavirus has now come down to 311 in the city. The recovery rate has again reached 96.66 percent. However, a total of 586 people died due to COVID 19 infection in the city.
