Of Maharashtra’s 9.6 lakh Covishield shots, 1.4 lakh take Pune-Mumbai V-way

MUMBAI/PUNE: Mumbai will receive its first consignment of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pune early on Wednesday, officials said. The BMC is expected to get around 1.4 lakh doses to immunise the 1.3 lakh registered healthcare workers in the city in the first round.
Maharashtra has been allocated 9.63 lakh Covishield vaccine doses manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) and 20,000 doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech for the priority vaccination drive that will commence on January 16, according to a communication from the Central government to state health authorities.
The state has registered 8 lakh health beneficiaries on the CoWin app for the priority drive.
The BMC dispatched a van around 3pm on Tuesday to collect its share of vaccine from the state’s central vaccine depot in Pune. Sources said the van was to start from Pune around 11.30pm and reach Mumbai by 3.30am on Wednesday. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the vaccine would be stocked in the BMC’s F South (Parel) ward office under police protection.
Importantly, the vaccine wouldn’t be distributed to other centres till the morning of January 16 when the nationwide drive kicks off.
Vaccine stocks to be stored in city under tight lock and key
Vaccines stocked in the F South ward office wouldn’t be distributed to other centres in the city till the morning of January 16, when the nationwide drive begins. “We will mobilise the vaccine stocks to the respective vaccination centres only on Saturday morning. All the centres are close by, and the vaccine can be transported there in no time,” Kakani said, hinting that this was for security reasons and better management. Initially, the vaccine will be administered in eight centres in the city, including KEM, Sion, Cooper, BYL Nair, Bandra Bhabha, Rajawadi, VN Desai and Babasaheb Ambedkar (Kandivli) hospitals. Gradually, the number of vaccination centres will be increased to 75, including jumbo centres, maternity homes and dispensaries, among others.
While the state received Covishield through the day, the process of allocating the doses to various districts was going on till late on Tuesday. A senior state official said districts would be allocated doses equal to their registered beneficiaries, plus 10% buffer doses to cover wastage. There was not much clarity on arrival of Bharat Biotech doses.
Dr D Patil, state immunisation officer, said the vaccine would reach most parts of the state by Wednesday, while some far-off centres could receive it by Thursday. From Pune’s central depot, the vaccine would be distributed to nine divisional storage facilities in Mumbai, Thane, Pune (not the Central facility), Nashik, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Latur, Akola and Nagpur. From there, it will be distributed to 34 cold storage facilities at district level and 27 corporations.
Patil said a particular district would have to be selected for the administering of the 20,000 Covaxin doses as that district would also need to get the repeat doses of the same vaccine. Both doses, of 0.5ml each, are to be administered within a gap of 28 days.
At vaccination centres in Mumbai, security will be tightened in places where the vaccine is stored. At RN Cooper in Juhu, which is a model vaccination centre, the stock would be kept away from the main vaccination area, said dean Dr Pinakin Gujjar. “We have allocated a separate room for it, where security personnel would be posted,” he said. Dr Vidya Thakur, medical superintendent of Rajawadi Hospital said they have assigned special security to guard the refrigerator that will stock up to 60,000 doses. “The room will be locked, and there will be CCTV surveillance,” she said.