Maharashtra tourism and environment minister Aditya Thackeray said the state is now looking at possibilities of global procurement of COVID-19 vaccines to meet the inoculation demand, adding Mumbai can be vaccinated in 3 weeks if we can import COVID-19 vaccines.
Thackeray said the cost is "not a factor" and the state government's priority is "procurement at the earliest". Thackeray told NDTV, "We are looking at the possibility of globally procuring vaccines for Mumbai. If we can do that.. we have a roadmap to vaccinate the people of Mumbai in three weeks."
The Maharashtra minister also tweeted they are working to ensure that beneficiaries who can't use the CoWin app can get access to coronavirus vaccines.
Thackeray further mentioned the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) shall have a vaccination centre in every municipal ward coupled with a drive-in vaccination centre across all zones of Mumbai and that the BMC has laid out guidelines for vaccination policy of housing societies partnering with hospitals for vaccination within society complexes.
The minister went onto request that other cities in Maharashtra should also have vaccination drives for citizens above 65 years of age.
Meanwhile, more than 1.82 crore people have been inoculated in Maharashtra so far. Out of these, over 1.47 crore people got the first dose, whereas 34.87 lakh people got the second dose of the lifesaving jab.
Total 1,794 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Mumbai whereas 3,580 patients got discharged on Monday. India's financial capital has reported 74 COVID-19 fatalities over the last 24 hours. Mumbai has a recovery rate of 91 per cent and a doubling rate of 163 days.
Edited by Mehak Agarwal
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