Half of city’s population to be vaccinated in a year?

MUMBAI: If the supply of the Covid-19 vaccine doses is adequate and timely, the civic body would be able to immunise around half of Mumbai’s 12.3 million population in a year, officials have stated.

According to civic officials, the nine designated vaccine centres of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with capacity to vaccinate 14,000-15,000 people each day or about 100,000 a week, would be able to vaccinate a little over five million citizens against Covid-19 in the next one year.

Civic officials said the number of beneficiaries is expected to rise in the coming months once the vaccination for the general public starts, as the civic body will increase its capacity with additional supply of doses.

BMC’s executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare said, “The nine centres with a total of 72 booths have a capacity to vaccinate at least 14,000 people a day. Once the drive is launched, it will continue every day until the beneficiaries shortlisted for phase-1 are vaccinated. We’ve not received information on when phase-2 will start.”

The nine centres are four major hospitals (King Edward Memorial Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital, Cooper hospital and Sion hospital), four peripheral hospitals (Bhabha Hospital in Bandra, VN Desai Hospital in Santacruz, Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar and Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivli) and the Covid facility at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

BMC plans to kick off its

Aphase-1 of vaccinating 130,000 healthcare workers from Saturday at these nine centres. A dry run for the phase-1 of the immunisation process is expected to be undertaken on Friday.

However, top civic officials are cautious about setting any deadlines. Additional civic commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “I can’t give a timeline as to when the entire city will be vaccinated or by when the general public will get the vaccine. It depends on factors such as availability of vaccine doses and also if private institutions are given permission for the immunisation. Without this information, it will be futile to decide on a timeline.”

According to officials, citizens above 50 and those with comorbidities, who constitutes around 30% of the total 12.4 million citizens can be vaccinated in about four months, if the supply of the doses is adequate. “After this, we can start vaccinating those between 18 and 50 years. If we consider only BMC’s capability, a significant number of the population can be vaccinated in the next one year,” Kakani said, adding that there is no decision if the vaccine will be free.

Meanwhile, Dr Madhav Sathe, former professor of microbiology at Nair Hospital, said the entire city can be vaccinated even in six months if private and government infrastructure are completely utilised. “We should wait for the results of the vaccines that will be administered to healthcare and frontline workers. Once they are out, I am sure it will boost citizens’ confidence,” he said. Dr Sathe added that the real challenge for India will be if the vaccine provides immunity against Covid-19 for less than a year. “This might create a new challenge of frequent vaccination. But I feel the vaccines will provide immunity for one-two years,” he added.

Dr Om Shrivastav, who is part of the state’s Covid-19 task force, said, “Looking at the current pace of things, I think vaccines will be made available to general public soon. BMC can maintain a steady pace for the process by roping in private hospitals, in case they get permission from the state to do so.”