The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will on January 16 start its coronavirus vaccination drive at nine centres across Mumbai with the official launch at Cooper Hospital in Juhu. Mumbai received its first set of 1.39 lakh Covid vaccine doses on Wednesday, even as it waits for intimation from the state on how many doses it will get in the first phase of the drive. Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday said the government has been allocated 963,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine from Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune.
In the first phase of the drive, health workers will be vaccinated, with BMC already registering 1,25,000 lakh health workers on the CoWIN app — an automated system launched by the Central government to systematically administer vaccine shots across the country. R.N. Cooper hospital Dean Dr Pinakin Gujjar said, “Our hospital has made sure that we have all important equipments in case of emergency. Only those who have registered themselves will be allowed to enter the vaccination centre. We will receive the vaccine by Thursday and the quantity of vaccines will be decided by the BMC. We want people to understand that vaccination is important and they must not fear it.”
The vaccine doses will be stored at a temporary cold storage facility set up on the ground floor of the F-South ward office in Parel, until the civic body prepares the regional vaccine storage (RVS) five-storey Parivar building at Kanjurmarg, which has been identified as the centre for storing doses. Coordinator of vaccination at R.N. Copper hospital Dr Anita informed, “the hospital has 10 vaccination points, 10 beneficiaries at a time will get vaccinated, 30 minutes of observation will be done. In case of any side effect or any other emergency we have more than 10 beds, oxygen cylinders, ambulance and other equipment ready on the spot. Since vaccination is close to hospital building we also have emergency exit doors as well. Depending on the number of people registering themselves for vaccination at our centre, BMC will provide us with a vaccine.”
The nine vaccination centres in Mumbai are: The four major hospitals — KEM Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital, Cooper Hospital and Sion Hospital; four peripheral hospitals — Bhabha Hospital in Bandra, V.N. Desai Hospital in Santacruz, Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar and Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivali; and the Covid-19 facility at Bandra-Kurla Complex.