Mumbai receives over 1.39 lakh Covishield doses; vaccines to be stored at BMC ward office in Parel

Mumbai: Mumbai received over 1.39 lakh doses of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) early Wednesday morning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said. This first batch of doses will be delivered across the city at designated vaccination centers for the inoculation drive set to begin on 16 January, the BMC said in a statement. The civic body said it received 1,39,500 doses of the Covishield vaccine from the SII around 5.30 am. Health department staffers of the BMC brought the vaccines from neighbouring Pune under the security of two police vehicles, it said. “The vaccine doses are being stored at a facility in F-South ward office situated in Parel,” it stated. The civic body has also created a centralised cold storage facility for vaccines in Kanjurmarg. Nearly 1.30 lakh health workers from Mumbai have so far registered for vaccination, according to BMC officials. Mumbai will have 72 inoculation centres, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said in a release on Tuesday. A minimum of 100 people will be vaccinated against COVID-19 at a single centre which will have a team of five personnel who will verify the SMS sent to the person to be inoculated, her or his identity and administer the vaccine. “The necessary arrangement of electricity, Internet and webcasting service has been made at all these centres,” Tope said in the release. A massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 has been set in process with more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine leaving Pune for 13 cities across India on Tuesday. With the addition of 473 fresh cases on Tuesday, Mumbai’s cumulative COVID-19 count has reached 2,99,796, while the death toll has gone up to 11,202, as per official figures.