Mumbai may soon run out of COVID-19 vaccine doses, says Mayor Kishori Pednekar

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Wednesday claimed the metropolis, which is witnessing a surge in coronavirus cases, is running out of vaccine doses and demanded that the Centre step up supplies immediately. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Pednekar said Mumbai had only 1.76 lakh doses of Covishield, the mainstay of the vaccination drive, till Tuesday afternoon and this figure could have gone down by now. She said at present COVID-19 vaccines are being administered at 108 facilities in the city and at some sites, like jumbo care centres, around 2,000 doses are being given per day. Pednekar said Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Health Minister Rajesh Tope and opposition leaders should vigorously pursue efforts to get adequate vaccine doses for the city and other parts of the state. Earlier in the day, Tope had said many inoculation centres in Maharashtra are being shut due to a shortage of coronavirus vaccines and added the state now has 14 lakh doses which would last just three days. “It is necessary that the Union government makes vaccines available for people,” Pednekar said. In case there is a shortage, people would not be able to set the second dose of the vaccine which is mandatory to develop strong immunity against COVID-19, she said. The mayor said citizens are responding positively to the COVID-19 vaccination drive and a shortage will dent their enthusiasm. Mumbai is one of India’s worst COVID-19 hotspots and has witnessed an unprecedented surge in cases in the last few weeks. On Tuesday, 10,030 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Mumbai and 31 more patients died due to the infection. According to the BMC, 14,61,922 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the city till 6 April.