Give Mum access to vax, BMC urges its six sister cities across the world

MUMBAI: To meet the demand of procuring 18 million vaccine doses for the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has written letters to the mayors of six sister cities of Mumbai seeking their help in procuring Covid-19 vaccine doses, to avoid the severity of the third Covid-19 wave. These six cities include New York and Los Angeles in the USA, Stuttgart in Germany, St Petersburg in Russia, Yokohama in Japan and Busan in South Korea.

The Sister-city International (SCI) concept is a non-profit citizen diplomacy network that creates partnerships between communities through the establishment of ‘sister cities’. The objective of signing the sistercity agreement is to advance exchange between the two cities with whom the agreement is signed.

According to BMC officials, these letters were written under the sister cities agreement with the above-mentioned cities. All six letters have been addressed to the mayors of the cities mentioned above.

In one such letter written by municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, he states, “As a sister city of Mumbai, I want to congratulate you for effective measures taken by the city of Yokohama, to combat Covid pandemic and your success in achieving good results.”

The letter further reads, “Being a sister city of Mumbai, may I humbly request your good self to help and provide access to vaccine for Mumbai city. We are ready to pay the necessary charges well in advance. Please let us know the availability of the vaccine along with its cost and bank details for depositing requisite amount of money, Mumbai as a sister city will surely acknowledge your favour for the same.”

The letter with similar text was written by Chahal to the remaining five sister cities including New York, Los Angeles, Busan, St Petersburg and Stuttgart.

In the letter, Chahal has noted that Mumbai city’s population is 16 million and its eligible population above 18 years of age is nine million. Thus, Mumbai needs approximately 18 million doses to vaccinate its eligible population. It also mentions that vaccination in the city started on January 16, 2021, and since then over three million people have been vaccinated. The letter notes that a third wave is expected to hit the city between July and August, and to avoid the severity of Covid-19, vaccination is very important.

Additionally, the BMC has also floated a global expression of interest (EOI) to procure 10 million vaccine doses. The EOI was floated on May 12, post which, two extensions were given until May 25. The last date for submission of proposals now is June 1.

The BMC, as of May 25, had received eight proposals of which seven were for supplying the Russian vaccine Sputnik and one was for supplying Pfizer and Astrazeneca. However, after this announcement on May 25, Pfizer issued a statement saying it has not issued authorisation to anyone for marketing or distribution of its Covid vaccine. The Czech Republic-based firm withdrew its proposal on May 27 without giving any reason, civic officials said.