The Maharashtra Health minister announced that the Covishield vaccine will not be provided to citizens below the age of 18, pregnant women and people with allergies. The minister further stated that the citizens chosen for the first round of immunization, who do not fall in any of these categories, shall be administered with two doses of the vaccine at an interval of 4-6 weeks. Maharashtra expects the vaccination of frontline workers to begin on January 16, in line with the national launch date
Country's financial capital gets 'lion's share' of 72 vaccination centres
The Chief Minister affirmed that the Serum Institute of India (Pune) had delivered 9,63,000 doses of the vaccine which is around 55% of the state's allocation of a total of 17,500 doses. The transfer of the vaccine doses from Pune began on Tuesday night, for onward distribution to the 511 designated vaccination centres spread across Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Kolhapur, Nashik, Akola, Nagpur and other places.
Out of these 511 centres, 129 have been assigned to the heavily populated Mumbai Metropolitan Region which has witnessed a striking number of 19,274 COVID-19 related deaths and a cumulative count of 6,77,220 positive cases so far. Assigned 72 vaccination centres, the country's financial capital has got the maximum share in the state.
Plans to vaccinate 7,200 people in Mumbai daily
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner said that the first batch of the vaccine was received from Pune on Wednesday amid tight security. The BMC stock of 139,500 doses has already been delivered to the South Divisional office which will be transferred to the vaccination centres in a couple of days. While the vaccination is supposed to begin on the 16th of January, current projections indicate that around 100 persons would be vaccinated daily at each centre taking the total tally to 7,200.
The staff workers at BMC South Division office received the life-saving vaccines with cheers, claps, garlands and 'poojas on Wednesday morning. The doses were taken for storage in the temperature-controlled rooms in accordance with the criteria laid down by the state government protocols.
