Only 27 Covid-19 vax centres open

THANE: The limited supply of vaccines within Thane city and the increase in the number of people coming forward for vaccination have led to long queues outside vaccination centres in Thane city on Saturday.

Merely 27 out of the 56 vaccination centres across the city were open, as per the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). On a daily basis, there are around 9,000 doses that are being administered while the daily target is around 10,000.

Sandeep Malvi, TMC deputy municipal commissioner, said, “Despite the limited supply of vaccines, the number of vaccinations continues to be the same within the city. During the acute shortage of vaccines, the daily vaccination target had dropped to 6,000. However, with the increase in number of people coming forward to get vaccinated, the daily vaccine target is in tandem with the number of people vaccinated daily.”

There are only Covishield vaccines available as of now and booster doses of Covaxin within TMC. “It becomes difficult to monitor the crowd when the rule by the state government mentions that people can step outside for vaccination. As 60 per cent opt for walk-in vaccinations, we are unable to give them a time slot as well to ensure social distancing,” added

Malvi.

Thane city has, till now, administered around 2.3 lakh vaccine doses. However, the city is reeling under lack of enough vaccines as crowds outside vaccination centres increased despite the strict weekend lockdown rules.

PRAFUL GANGURDE /HT Long line of people waiting to get vaccinated at TMC’s vaccination centre on Saket Road on Saturday.