V-day today: Is Mumbai set for its best shot at fighting Covid-19?
Amid glitches and confusion, city’s centres race against time to complete arrangements; 4,100 health workers to get Covid vaccine shots on Day 1 of drive
MUMBAI : With less than 24 hours to kickstart the nationwide mass inoculation programme, civic and governmentrun vaccination centres on Friday geared up to meet the deadline for preparations. On Saturday— the first day of the vaccination programme — 4,100 healthcare workers will be inoculated in the city.
Of these, 4,000 healthcare workers will receive Serum Institute of India’s Covishield (developed by University of Oxford) at nine vaccine centres, of which four are major civic hospitals — King Edward Memorial (KEM), BYL Nair, RN Cooper and Lokmanya Tilak General (Sion) hospitals. Four peripheral hospitals — Bhabha hospital (Bandra), VN Desai Hospital (Santacruz), Rajawadi Hospital (Ghatkopar) and Shatabdi (Kandivli) — as well as the Covid-19 jumbo centre at Bandra-kurla Complex are the other five centres.
KEM, Sion, BYL Nair, Cooper, Rajawadi, Shatabdi hospitals and BKC centre have each got 4,000 doses of Covishield, while Bhabha hospital has procured 2,500 units of the vaccine. VN Desai Hospital currently has 2,000 units of Covishield.
The remaining 100 healthcare workers will be vaccinated with Bharat Biotech’s indigenous Covaxin at the government-run Grant Medical College (Sir JJ Hospital). Sir JJ Hospital has procured 2,000 units of Covaxin.
Each beneficiary will be given 0.5ml of intramuscular (IM) injectable dosages. “As it is the first day of the drive, we will start with 4,000 dosages instead of 12,000. We will gradually increase the number of doses,” said Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) immunisation officer Dr Sheela Jagtap.
On Friday, the 10 vaccine centres were working on last-minute preparations. Each of the centres has been divided into different zones — waiting room, vaccination units, observation and adverse effect room. They have been designed keeping in mind the need for social distancing. All units have been separated from each other with antibacterial curtains as a guard to control the possible spread of the virus from any undetected, infected patient.
“We have made special arrangements for patients if they develop any kind of adverse reactions such as allergy, fever or drowsiness. In the adverse effect rooms, we have kept special beds ready with oxygen facility,” said Dr Rajesh Dere, in-charge of BKC jumbo centre.
Outside all the centres, BMC has posted details of the vaccine to help beneficiaries. For instance, the posters answer basic queries such as ‘Will the vaccine be safe?’; ‘Should a person who recovered from Covid-19 take a vaccine?’ ‘What are the documents required for the registration’ among others. All the centres have also posted hoardings with directions to the vaccination units.
Till late evening, the centres were busy fitting lights and water supply. “We’ve been asked to work around the clock today [Friday] to finish minor last-minute works. Also, we have to cross check all the devices and set up the areas before 12am tonight,” said Hiralal Mishtry, a worker from Nair Hospital.
Parel’s KEM Hospital, which has set up the vaccination centre on the second floor of the new building, installed the final internet connection. However, the token display system was yet to be installed at some centres, though hospital authorities said it would be completed by Friday.
Similar scenes were also seen at BYL Nair Hospital, where a massive tent has been set up to serve as the waiting area for beneficiaries. The vaccination room has 10 chairs placed in a row.
As Sir JJ Hospital learnt only on Thursday that it will be one of the centres, hospital is trying its best to meet the deadline. Since Friday morning, the hospital was busy setting up a vaccination centre on the hospital’s second floor, next to the outpatient department (OPD) building.
“We weren’t informed about it until last night. So we weren’t prepared for the vaccination drive. But since morning, we have been working tirelessly to make the arrangements. We had to also bring vaccines from Thane today for the immunisation,” said a senior official from the hospital on Friday.
As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) rules, all beneficiaries of Covaxin will have to sign a consent form. It will have nine questions such as ‘Are you feeling sick today?’; ‘Have you ever had a serious allergic reactions?’; ‘Are you pregnant?’ among others. Beneficiaries will also have to fill their details. The form declares that compensation will be provided by the sponsors in case of any adverse effect of Covaxin.
This will be the first time that BMC will engage in a mass vaccination process among adults. “Every year, we vaccinate thousands of newborns and children upto five years. But this is for the first time that we will vaccinate adults. We hope no one develops any reaction,” said Neetu Kadam, 32, an officer in BMC’S immunisation programme.