The municipal authority of Mumbai, BMC has received its first consignment of the ‘Covishield’ vaccine form the Pune-based Serum Institute of India. As per reports, over 1.39 lakh shots of the coronavirus vaccine arrived in the city in a special vehicle of the BMC, early on Wednesday morning. The BMC has notified that the first batch of vaccine vials will be transported to the designated 72 vaccination centres, across the city, to prepare them ahead of the nationwide inoculation drive which is set to being on January 16.
Mumbai gears up for COVID-Immunity Drive
The pre-vaccination process has set pace in the maximum city, which received a total of 1,39,500 doses of the Covishield vaccine at around 5:30 on Saturday morning, as informed by the BMC. The civic body also said that the COVID-19 shots have been stored at a facility in F-south ward office in Parel. Besides this, the municipal authority has also made provisions for a centralised cold storage facility at Kanjurmarg to safely store the vaccine vials. The Health Minister reportedly stated that Mumbai has gotten a share of 72 vaccination centres which would be administering about 100 shots daily, immunising an aggregate of 7,200 people in the city every day.
These large numbers have been prescribed to the financial capital in view of the alarmingly high number of COVID cases. As per information, Mumbai’s coronavirus tallies have surged to 2,99,799 confirmed cases with 473 new hosts in the last 24 hours. This has also raised the active infection count to 7,395 in the city. With 441 recoveries and 7 deaths on Tuesday, Mumbai has clocked a recovery count and mortality toll of 2,80,323 and 11,200, respectively,
‘Largest pharma hub’, CSMIA begins distribution of COVID-19 vaccine
Meanwhile, the city of Mumbai has also initiated the process of distribution of COVID-19 vaccine to other Indian states and cities. On Wednesday, a GoAir service carrying 2,400 vials of COVID vaccine departed for Goa from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) at 5:20 AM and reached the coastal state at 6:30 AM. This is the first of many flights, which will airlift vaccine vials to Lucknow, Cochin and Chandigarh, besides Goa. The Airline officials have stated that GoAir will transport a total of 69,600 vials of the vaccine. By virtue of its position as the ‘largest pharma hub’, the Mumbai International Airport has aimed to cater to at least 16 destinations in the roll-out and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine, a private airport operator stated.
