Mumbai: People aged above 45 years not as enthusiastic as senior citizens were for COVID-19 vaccination

A vaccination centre at Jogeshwari. Pic/Satej Shinde

On Thursday, Mumbai saw the first day of Phase III of the vaccination drive where those aged above 45 years are to be vaccinated. While vaccination centres didn't see an overwhelming response as compared to last month when the drive opened for senior citizens, some of them had made preparations for large crowds while a few others took in only registered beneficiaries.

At some centres, it was noticed that beneficiaries insisted on taking Covaxin and the stock was low.

With the BMC allowing several centres to run for over 12 hours a day, the administration is expecting to accommodate large crowds, especially of those aged 45 and above. With the city witnessing a drop in the number of vaccinations in the past two to three days, the new age group would likely give them a boost, civic officials hoped. It is being said that the drive should be sped up to control the rising COVID-19 cases.

Few people seen at Nair hospital. Pic/Suresh Karkera

While all jumbo COVID centres running a vaccination centre will be functioning in two shifts, crowd-management is expected to be a cakewalk with the availability of a huge staff.

Cooper hospital is still not accepting walk-ins and insisting that only those with appointments should come in. According to sources, many at the centre also asked for Covaxin on Thursday, as compared to earlier.

With the BMC starting to give both the vaccines in the city, according to the data, 12 adverse reactions were reported on Thursday after taking the Covishield jabs, whereas none were reported after taking Covaxin. However, the adverse reactions cases were minor. There were 116 vaccination centres that were operational and 215 units functioning on Thurday with a capacity of 21,500.

Vaccine recipients at a vaccination centre in Dharavi on Thursday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Tejas express suspended

The classy Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express services has been temporarily suspended due to worsening COVID-19 scenario in Maharashtra and Gujarat from April 2. "Night curfews have also been implemented in both the connecting states which may cause inconvenience to passengers in general," a spokesperson said.

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No. of vaccination centres operational on Thursday