Maharashtra’s Minister for Public Health and Family Welfare, Rajesh Tope has said that registrations for the third phase of COVID-19 vaccinations of priority groups which includes people over the age of 50 and those under 50 with comorbidities, could begin on March 1. However, the State Government is reportedly seeking some clarifications on the enrolment process from the Centre.
“The government has not given more specific details but the enrolment could start from March 1,” Tope said while giving out the information that vaccination drives are being conducted across 652 designated centres in the state. It’s worth noting that the Union Health Minister had mentioned that vaccinations for prioritized groups among the general population could begin in March, although no specific details were provided.
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As of Tuesday, Feb 9, around 5.36 lakh frontline and healthcare workers have been vaccinated among the 16 lakh who have registered themselves for vaccination. It’s clear that with only 34 per cent of the registered users being vaccinated, the state is somewhat behind the curve.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), for its part, has said that it is currently prioritizing the administration of the first vaccine dose to around 3.75 lakh more frontline and healthcare workers within the first week of March.
Additional Municipal Commissioner at the BMC, Suresh Kakani said, “We haven’t got any instructions about registration of common people. Looking at the current pace of vaccination and hurdles on the ground, it may be challenging to start the registration of prioritized groups by March 1.”
Kakani added that private hospitals aren’t being used as vaccination centres right now because BMC has kept aside 75 centres with only 21 of them currently operating across the city. However, he said that private hospitals may be used during the third phase of the vaccination so as to cover a larger portion of the population.
On Feb 9, turnout for vaccinations was down compared to the days prior. It is reported that nine out of the 36 districts in Maharashtra didn’t even conduct a vaccination drive. Mumbai’s turnout was registered at 68 per cent with 6,310 of the 9,225 expected people taking the vaccine shot. By comparison, around 7,133 had received their doses on Feb 8 and 6,914 on Feb 6.
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Attendance was significantly better among healthcare workers with 85 per cent of them showing up whereas only 56 per cent of the allotted frontline workers took their shots. As per civic officials, 5,175 frontline workers were registered to receive the vaccine dose, while only 2,882 made it.
In addition to receiving a vaccine after registering on the approved portal, medical and frontline workers also have the opportunity to walk into any of the 22 vaccination centres in Mumbai, including the jumbo facility set up in Mulund, to receive their shots.
Across Maharashtra, around 23,721 took the vaccine on Tuesday which consisted of 12,343 healthcare workers and 11,378 frontline staff. Officials mentioned that the turnout was low across the state as nine districts couldn’t vaccinate people on Feb 9. The State is planning to vaccinate all 10.54 lakh registered healthcare workers in 12 session days starting Monday.
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