Mumbai: BMC to vaccinate 1 crore people in first month post covid-19 vaccine rollout

Mumbai: The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to vaccinate around 1 crore people in a month as soon as the vaccine is approved. They are gearing up for the same and are making preparations for the same already.

The Union health ministry has instructed all states to keep a blueprint of their first vaccination process ready.

The civic body has been holding regular meetings with senior health officers, including deans of medical colleges. As per the initial planning of the blueprint, other than medical colleges, the civic body will start vaccination points at peripheral hospitals.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC said that they are ready with the blueprint and are planning to vaccinate almost half of the population within a month after the rollout of the vaccine next year. However, everything depends on the state government releasing new guidelines for the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

At present, BMC has identified a 5,000 square feet floor in a five-storey civic building in Kanjurmarg as a cold storage facility. But, depending on the type of the vaccine, the temperature of the cold storage facility will be structured.

The King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Parel and BYL Nair hospital in Mumbai Central is conducting the second and third phase of the clinical trials of the foreign vaccine COVISHIELD manufactured by Oxford University. Lokmanya Tilak General Hospital, known as Sion Hospital and the government-run JJ hospital will soon start the clinical trial of the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine- COVAXIN.