Mumbai preparing to vaccinate 50,000 people against COVID-19 daily: Report

File image: Medics sit inside a vaccination room during a nationwide dry run of COVID-19 vaccine delivery systems, at a temporary vaccination centre in Mumbai, India on January 8, 2021. (Image: Reuters/Niharika Kulkarni)

Mumbai is setting up facilities to store 1 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines and preparing to vaccinate 50,000 people daily, Bloomberg reported.

The city, considered India’s financial hub, has been one of the worst-affected urban centres in the country during the novel coronavirus outbreak. Authorities are hoping that a speedy vaccination drive would enable the reopening of establishments and allow further relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal told Bloomberg that the city has formed 500 teams comprising two vaccinators, two support staff, and one guard – based on central guidelines. Initially, 12,000 people will be inoculated daily across eight centres.

However, Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said told Bloomberg that this capacity will rise to 50,000 people daily within a week, subject to availability of vaccine doses and public response. Vaccination centres will eventually be opened in each ward.

So far, 1.3 lakh healthcare workers and around 2 lakh frontline workers in Mumbai have been registered through the purpose-built Co-WIN application. The Centre has allocated doses based on these numbers.

Kakani told the news organisation that they are expecting 35 lakh people in the third phase which is meant for people aged 50 or more with co-morbidities. “At maximum capacity, this could take 100 days but it all depends on how many vials we get and what is the response of people,” Kakani was quoted as saying.

Chahal said India has had many such vaccination drives earlier and that the one to eradicate polio was more complicated as vaccinators had to go door-to-door. “If push comes to shove and a massive supply of vaccines are provided we are ready to knock on doors with iceboxes, as this vaccine requires to be stored at 2-8 degree Celsius just like polio doses,” he added.

According to reports, Mumbai is receiving the ‘Covishield’ vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and produced by the Serum Institute of India in Pune.

The areas falling under the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) had reported 3.01 lakh COVID-19 cases as of January 14. This included 11,221 deaths. While 2.81 lakh patients had recovered, 7,334 cases remained ‘active’.

India is scheduled to begin its COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16, with priority being given to healthcare and frontline workers. The Centre is hoping to vaccinate 30 crore across the country people till July. But it may take six months to a year for the general public to start getting vaccinated.

A speedy rollout of vaccines is being seen as the best way to curb the spread of COVID-19 and restore normalcy in the pandemic-battered global economy. As many as 50 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have already vaccinated a large number of people from high-risk groups.

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