Print this article

Dose shortage hits vaccination drive in Mumbai

Last updated on: April 09, 2021 16:45 IST

Seventy-five of the 120 vaccination centres across Mumbai, including a jumbo COVID-19 facility in business district Bandra-Kurla Complex, suspended inoculation on Friday morning due to a shortage of doses, BMC sources said.

IMAGE: People are seen outside a vaccination center in Matunga where a 'Vaccine out of stock' notice was put up on the gate of the vaccination center at Matunga in Mumbai. Photograph: Ashish Vaishnav/ANI Photo

The remaining centres are likely to suspend the vaccination drive by afternoon or evening as the available stock is fast depleting, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, Mumbai is expected to get up to 1.8 lakh fresh doses of COVID-19 vaccines on Friday, said Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's executive health officer Mangala Gomare.

IMAGE: A volunteer sits in an empty waiting area outside a Covid-19 vaccination centre as vaccination was stopped due to shortage of vaccine supplies, in Mumbai. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo

According to the sources, as many as 75 of the 120 centres, mainly at private hospitals, suspended vaccination on Friday morning due to unavailability of doses, while some other centres suspended the drive within a few hours after the stock got over.

IMAGE: A notice placed outside BKC Jumbo vaccination Centre in Mumbai. Photograph: ANI

The jumbo COVID-19 centre at BKC, where the civic body has set up a mega inoculation facility, also suspended vaccination after administering less than 200 doses available in stock, a doctor from the centre said.

On Thursday, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had said that due to a shortage of doses, the vaccination drive will come to halt at all centres in Mumbai from Friday, and sought immediate supplies to replenish the existing stock.

IMAGE: A beneficiary stands outside a closed vaccination centre after the COVID-19 vaccine got out of stock, in Mumbai, on Thursday. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo

The civic body of Mumbai had claimed it had suspended vaccination at 25 centres in private hospitals on Thursday due to unavailability of doses.

IMAGE: Municipal worker put up notice 'Vaccine out of stock' on the gate of the vaccination center at Matunga in Mumbai on Thursday. Photograph: Ashish Vaishnav/ANI Photo

Asked about the situation, Gomare said the centres where vaccine doses have run out of stock have suspended the drive, but exact details were not available.

*****

Tope contests Centre's claim over vaccine wastage in Maha

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday rejected the Centre's claim that more than five lakh vaccine doses were wasted in the state, the worst hit by COVID-19 in the country.

IMAGE: A vaccination centre in Nagpur puts up a notice with 'Vaccine stocks currently not available' written on it. Photograph: ANI

Tope contested the figure put out by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on vaccine wastage, saying it was not correct.

'Wastage quoted is actually national average wastage percentage. State wastage is lesser than half of the national average wastage percentage,' Tope tweeted.

On Thursday, Javadekar had said the Maharashtra government should not play politics over vaccination.

Giving figures, Javadekar had said the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses supplied to the state till date was 1,06,19,190.

'The consumption was 90,53,523 (of which 6% per cent wastage - over 5 lakh), Vaccine in pipeline - 7,43,280 and dosage available - nearly 23 lakhs,' the Union minister had tweeted.

Maharashtra, reeling under a spurt in COVID-19 cases, has sought more vaccine supplies from the Centre.