Mumbai Vaccine Shortage: BMC Receives 99,000 Doses Of Covishield; Centre Assures Assistance

The BMC added that vaccination would take place only at government and municipal hospitals on April 10 (12pm- 6pm) and April 11 (9am-5pm). The civic body also said that citizens eligible for vaccination can travel to vaccination centres during curfew on medical grounds.

(File Photo/ Getty)

Mumbai:  In what comes as good news for the people in India’s fiscal capital amid the unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday informed it received 99,000 doses of Covishield vaccine after it complained of a shortage, adding the vaccines will be distributed to the civic and government-run vaccine centres for vaccination.

The civic body had earlier on Friday said that private vaccination centres in Mumbai would be closed until Monday due to inadequate availability of Covid-19 vaccine.

READ: Mumbai's Covid-19 Vaccination Drive Gets Hit By Lack Of Doses, Private Centres To Remain Shut Till Monday

The BMC added that vaccination would take place only at government and municipal hospitals on April 10 (12pm- 6pm) and April 11 (9am-5pm). The civic body also said that citizens eligible for vaccination can travel to vaccination centres during curfew on medical grounds.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyBMCUpdates?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#MyBMCUpdates</a><br><br>Vaccination to take place only at Govt &amp; Municipal Hospitals on 10 Apr (12pm- 6pm) &amp; 11 Apr (9am-5pm)<br><br>No vaccination at any pvt centre on 10, 11 &amp; 12 Apr<br><br>Citizens eligible for vaccination can travel to vaccination centres during curfew on medical grounds <a href="https://t.co/0X9f4ucTIs" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/0X9f4ucTIs</a></p>&mdash; माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) <a href="https://twitter.com/mybmc/status/1380560904329158661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>April 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The BMC had earlier on Thursday said that vaccination could not take place at 25 of the 71 approved vaccination centres as the doses had run out of stock at these private facilities.

As per the civic body data, there are 49 vaccination centres in government and BMC run hospitals in the metropolis while 71 have been set up in private hospitals.

Meanwhile, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar today said Maharashtra has received 1.10 crore doses of anti-COVID 19 vaccines so far, adding over 1,100 ventilators will be made available for the state in the next three days.

READ: Covid Vaccine Shortage: Punjab Left With Only 3 To 5 Days Of Supply, Says CM Amarinder Singh

Javadekar, who was speaking to the media after attending a review meeting with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Pune, further said Gujarat and Rajasthan are the two other states that have received more than one crore doses.

The Union Minister’s remarks came amid reports that Maharashtra, which is worst-affected by COVID-19 pandemic, is facing an acute shortage of the doses which is hampering its vaccination drive.

Struggling to cope up with the rising Covid-19 cases, the Maharashtra Government has imposed a weekend lockdown in the state beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday till 7 a.m. on Monday besides other restrictions, which will continue till April 30.