After a damp squib initial days of vaccination drive, BMC says more health workers turned up to get inoculated, as hardly any adverse effects of the vaccine have been noticed till now
Health workers queue up to get vaccinated at Nair Hospital, on Friday. Pics/Ashish Raje
The BMC’s vaccination drive is finally gathering pace with more than 92 per cent turnout recorded on Day 4. This is the highest compared to the past three days, when about 52 per cent health workers turned up. The city also received its second consignment of Covishield vaccine, comprising 1.25 lakh doses, on Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT
A health worker gets vaccinated at Nair hospital, in Mumbai Central area, on Friday
Of the 3,852 health workers, who were supposed to get vaccinated on Friday, 3,539 turned up and received the jab. Of them, two developed minor adverse effects. While the civic officials claimed that the high turnout was due to people being less hesitant now, they also said that it was because many issues with the CoWin app had been fixed. They also mentioned that the decision to allow on-spot inoculation also helped to increase the turnout.
Additional municipal commissioner, BMC, Suresh Kakani, said, “The glitches faced in the CoWin app are now being sorted out and many received messages on Thursday. Apart from this, as people are getting less hesitant, they are turning up for the vaccination. This is a good sign and we are hopeful it will continue.”
The KEM hospital saw a huge turnout on Friday with 685 beneficiaries getting inoculated, followed by Ambedkar hospital at Kandivli where the turnout was 572. However, only 25 health workers were inoculated at JJ hospital.
According to sources, the BMC fixed a number of issues they were facing with the CoWin app, which helped them ensure that the listed people were informed about the drive. While the vaccination drive was not conducted on Thursday, it resumed on Friday and will be carried out on Saturday as well. However, looking at the response, the authorities concerned are planning to conduct the drive five days a week instead of the current four. But civic officials said the decision would be taken today.
Meanwhile, officials said that the second consignment of Covishield would be sufficient for the registered health workers in the city. Initially, 1.35 lakh doses were sent and now the civic body would be able to store the second doses to be given to health workers, officials said.
Day 4 of vaccination
Hospital Total vaccinated
KEM 685
Sion 301
Cooper 368
Nair 378
VN Desai 72
Ambedkar Kandivli 572
Rajawadi 517
Jumbo hospital 350
Bhabha, Bandra 271
JJ Hospital 25
483
No. of fresh COVID-19 cases that were reported in Mumbai on Friday
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
