Private vaccination centres in Mumbai to remain shut till Monday; govt ones to operate

Vaccination drive against coronavirus will take place only in government and civic centres over the weekend in Mumbai, while private ones will remain closed. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said on Friday that vaccination will continue only in government and civic centres on April 10 and 11. Private centres will reopen once more vaccine doses are made available, said BMC.

"On April 10, vaccination will take place in government and civic centres between noon and 6am, and it will be between 9am and 5pm on April 11. Citizens eligible for vaccination can travel to centres during curfew on medical grounds," the BMC said.

Mumbai has 49 vaccination centres in government and BMC-run hospitals, while there are 71 private centres. Around 90 vaccination centres, including 71 in private facilities had to shut down on Friday due to shortage of coronavirus vaccine doses.

As many as 50,000 people are being inoculated daily, as per BMC data. But on Friday, only 25,474 people were inoculated including 2,854 second doses.

People reportedly protested at several centres after being asked to go back due to lack of vaccine doses.

Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) jumbo vaccination centre  also ran out of vaccines on Friday. Rajesh Dere, Dean, BKC Jumbo vaccination centre said, "From day 1 we used to get vaccines before a day as buffer stock, till yesterday we got a sufficient number of vials for this centre. Last night we were expecting to get today's dose, but it has not come. Now we have only 160 doses."

The Maharashtra government earlier this week had a war of words with the Centre. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope alleged discrimination by the central government and said that more vaccine doses were sent to BJP-ruled states. In response, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that Maharashtra and Rajasthan, both non-BJP states, were two of the states that received the highest number of coronavirus vaccines.

Also read: COVID-19 vaccination halts in Mumbai's BKC centre, 75 other sites due to shortage

Also read: Maharashtra closes 109 centres, Odisha 700 due to vaccine 'shortage'