As Mumbai is on alert with Cyclone Tauktae predicted to cause very heavy rains, the civic authorities have suspended the vaccination programme for Monday, and the special drive would be now held from Tuesday to Thursday.
“In view of the warning of high intensity cyclone issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the vaccination programme scheduled for Monday stands cancelled. The revised schedule will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said.
He also said that as the central government has advised a gap of 12 to 18 weeks between two doses of Covishield, no one except healthcare workers and frontline workers will be eligible for second dose of Covishield as vaccination for the other categories commenced only on March 1.
The walk-in campaign of May 18-20 from Tuesday will offer the first dose of Covishield to citizens of 60+ years. Those whose second dose of Covaxin is due and the differently-abled will also qualify for walk-in vaccinations. Many health care and frontline workers also have completed 12 weeks since their first dose and are due for their second dose of Covishield.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, vaccination will be done via online appointment through the Co-Win portal.
Struggling with acute vaccine shortage, BMC has suspended inoculation of 18-44 years age group which started from May 1.
On Sunday the health ministry issued revised guidelines wherein beneficiaries who have previously booked online appointments through CoWIN app can get their 2nd dose. For Covishield, the gap between first and second dose was changed to 12 to 18 weeks. For Covaxin the gap is unchanged, i.e., 4-6 weeks.
As per the new guidelines, if a beneficiary has already booked an online appointment for second dose of Covisheild, he/she should be allowed to take the vaccine even if the period of 84 days has not been completed. However due to vaccine shortage those awaiting the second dose of Covishield will be eligible only after May 23.
The cyclone has added to the challenges of Covid-19 response. The BMC has also been shifting out patients from three ‘jumbo’ hospitals since Saturday to state-run and municipal hospitals. Many patients also have been discharged. The civic body was particularly challenged to shift out many patients who were in ICU support. It will now treat patients in critical condition at the same hospital and not transfer them back to jumbo centres.
Due to high velocity winds, the BMC has alerted citizens about possible waterlogging, tree collapses, and traffic diversions, and advised them not to venture out of their homes unnecessarily.
Maharashtra has reported a recovery rate of 89.74% and a case fatality rate of 1.52% with 974 Covid-19 deaths in the 24 hours to Monday morning. As many as 152 deaths tool place in Mumbai and the city recorded 4,431 new active cases in this period.
As many as 1,92742 people were vaccinated in the state on Saturday. Since the start of the programme in January the state has vaccinated 1.99 crore people out of whom 1.51 crore are above 45 years of age, 23 lakh are frontline workers, 18.47 lakh are health care workers and 6.48 lakh people area in the age group of 18-44 years.
