Trying to increase daily vaccination capacity to 1 lakh: Municipal Commissioner

A beneficiary gets vaccinated at Nair hospital on Tuesday. Pic/Ashish Raje

With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) all set to start the vaccination drive for those above 45 years of age from April 1, Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal took his first dose at the BKC jumbo centre on Tuesday. After taking the jab, the civic chief claimed that the BKC centre, which is also operating as a vaccination unit, had inoculated one of the highest number of beneficiaries across the country.

Chahal added, "About 40 lakh people in Mumbai are eligible for the vaccination. So far more than 11 lakh citizens have been inoculated. While at present, the daily vaccination capacity of the city is around 45,000, efforts are being made to increase it to 1 lakh. For this, we plan to start vaccinations at 26 private hospitals, for which we are following up with the central government." He further said that if the pace of vaccination increases, the spread of the infection would definitely be controlled.

On Tuesday, a total of 26,874 beneficiaries were vaccinated across the city. Meanwhile, 11,24,958 beneficiaries have been inoculated so far, out of which 14,75,26 have been fully vaccinated. While 25,102 doses of the Covishield vaccine were given on Tuesday, 1,772 doses of the Covaxin jab were administered. A total of 108 vaccination centres were operational and 245 units were functioning on Tuesday.

The total number of senior citizens who took their first dose on Tuesday was 15,348 and 289 took their second dose. Whereas the number of citizens above 45 years of age with comorbidities who took their first dose was 4,740 and 52 took their second dose.

The number of health care workers who were given the first dose on Tuesday was 1,698 and 565 took their second dose. Further, the number of frontline workers who took their first dose on Tuesday was 2,611, while 1,571 took their second dose.