The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is mulling the idea of vaccinating people at their homes during the fourth phase of the mass immunization campaign.
This comes after a recommendation was made by the Maharashtra COVID-19 Task Force a week ago asking the civic body to permit home vaccinations for senior citizens with severe comorbidities so as to prevent them from getting infected at vaccination centres.
However, it is learned that BMC officials turned down the recommendation saying that the plan may not be feasible.
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Additional Municipal Commissioner of the BMC, Suresh Kakani said, “At this moment, we can’t implement the plan. Every beneficiary is kept under observation for 30 minutes in a room after vaccination. By the time the fourth phase starts, we will have a better understanding of both vaccines. Then, we can think of starting home vaccination.”
The suggestion to offer home vaccinations to at-risk seniors makes logical sense considering the overcrowding witnessed in most vaccination centres across Mumbai.
“We are seeing individuals with partial paralysis being taken to vaccination centres for inoculation in ambulances. It would have been better if BMC under their supervision could start inoculating them at home at their own cost. This would have helped to control the crowd at vaccination centres,” a member of the state’s task force said.
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The BMC is reportedly trying to ramp up vaccination centres in a phased manner to inoculate up to 1 lakh citizens per day. “Daily, we are holding inspections of private hospitals who are willing to take part in the mass immunisation process. We have also shortlisted another 49 private hospitals with over 50 beds and sent their names to the central government for approval,” Kakani said while adding that the civic body will add more hospitals to the list.
Maharashtra is experiencing new highs in coronavirus cases, leading to concern across the state and civic administrations. Some restrictions have been put in place again given the rise of cases. A central team that visited the state has ascertained that Maharashtra is in the midst of its second wave of COVID-19.
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