The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday, June 15, issued a circular stating that the gap between two doses of the Covishield vaccine can be reduced to 28 days for students going abroad for higher studies, those flying out on work, and participants of the Tokyo Olympics. The usual gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine is 84 days.
This decision came days after the central government released Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that provide relaxation to some specified categories on June 7.
The BMC from May 28 had started allowing walk-in vaccination for students who have received confirmation of admission in universities abroad and require to be vaccinated to travel. So far, 3,152 students have been vaccinated at municipal hospitals.
The civic body directive allows free vaccination for persons going to take up jobs in foreign countries, those travelling to Tokyo for the Olympics and only students travelling for further studies.
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In addition, it also mentioned that vaccination for these categories will be conducted three days a week, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, on a walk-in basis.
Unlike earlier, wherein the drive was being carried out at three civic hospitals, namely, Kasturba Hospital in Chinchpokli, Rajawadi in Ghatkopar and Cooper Hospital in Juhu, the BMC has now designated other civic hospitals in the city to undertake this vaccination drive. These new centres include the Dahisar jumbo centre, KEM Hospital, Seven Hills and Shatabdi Hospital.
The BMC has made it mandatory for these three categories to carry valid documents with them to prove their eligibility for vaccination.
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