MUMBAI: Public vaccination centres offering free Covid vaccination in Mumbai saw three times the turnout in private centres on Saturday.
While 5,328 went to private centres, over 16,000 went to BMC- or state-run centres on the second day of the 'Covid Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav' in which adults in the 18-59 age group will be offered free Covid vaccine between July 15 and September 30. Most beneficiaries of the booster dose were in the 18-59 age group, showed BMC vaccination data on Saturday.
While the state breakup for booster dose wasn't available, over 1.8 lakh people turned up for vaccination on Saturday. "Most of these are likely to be recipients of the booster dose," said state immunisation officer Dr Sachin Desai.
A civic source said the BMC has limited stocks at the moment to keep up with the increased momentum of vaccination in the city. The state has 65 lakh doses of both the Covishield and Covaxin vaccine, but BMC has around 60,000 doses of both the types of vaccine.
However, BMC executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare said BMC would get 10,000 doses on Sunday. "We are getting more stock on Monday as well,'' she said, adding that the state has promised additional doses when needed.
BMC will review the demand in its 100-odd centres before taking a decision on whether to open more vaccination centres. "If there are some centres with higher turnout, we may consider opening up more centres in the vicinity," she said. Given the turnout of around 20,000 in the last two days, she said the existing number of centres should be able to handle it.
The uptake of booster doses has been poor across the country, with payment identified as one of the reasons. While the Union government provided free booster shots for healthcare and frontline workers and senior citizens, other adults in the 18-59 age group were mandated to pay Rs 225 plus charges at private centres. The central government's 75-day free drive for the 18-59 age group is expected to boost the drive.
"The increase in vaccination number in the last two days proves that people didn't want to pay for the third shot,'' said Dr Desai. On July 15, the state saw 1.06 lakh people take the booster shot.
A senior doctor said the initial enthusiasm may wane in a month. "People believe the pandemic is over, especially after Omicron third wave showed the infection is more flu-like than before," he said.
