Covid vaccination: Maharashtra gives record 5 lakh jabs in a day amid hours-long queues

MUMBAI: The number of daily Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in Maharashtra hit a record high of 5 lakh on Monday, a day after the state touched a low of one lakh vaccinations due to shortage. The state is hoping to cross the milestone of overall 1.5 crore vaccinations by Tuesday, principal health secretary Dr Pradip Vyas said. Currently, Mumbai, Thane and Pune are the leading districts.
Immunisation centres in Mumbai opened to chaotic scenes on Monday as thousands lined outside facilities 6am onwards. Senior citizens were forced to wait in the sun for 4-5 hours as serpentine queues stretched out. Social media was abuzz with complaints of CoWin not yielding appointments, or cancelled ones, forcing many to walk in to centres and wait with those who were unregistered. BMC numbers said 45,326 took the vaccine in the city on Monday, nearly double Sunday’s tally of 23,419.
Borivli resident Shaili Sharma, 64, and her 69-year-old husband stood from 8.30am till noon outside the Dahisar jumbo vaccination centre. “At least three people fainted because of the heat and sat down on the road,” she said, adding waiting without toilet arrangements was difficult for the elderly. Sharma had failed to get an appointment on CoWin for the past 25 days.
An acute shortage of doses was experienced at nearly all private centres over the past week, prompting many to stop inoculation. On Monday, civic officials said news of fresh stocks arriving brought many who were waiting for the second dose. So far, over 7.5lakh senior citizens have taken the first dose in Mumbai while 1.44lakh have taken both doses. Similarly, less than 50,000 from the age group of 45-59 have taken the second dose, while over 7.48lakh have taken the first one.
Anand Kadkol, who stood for hours at the Nesco vaccination centre in Goregaon, questioned on Twitter whether the system was ready to open vaccination for all considering how the elderly were struggling to get their first and second doses. A 70-year-old woman, who went to a private hospital in Vile Parle, did not get the vaccine despite waiting six hours.
Dr Neelam Andrade, dean of Nesco, said they have tied up with NGOs for crowd management. “The rush was extraordinary on Monday and the footfall must have exceeded 3,000-4,000,” she said, adding they had used up most of the 7,500 doses they received on Monday. Dr Mangala Gomare, BMC’s executive health officer said the city had doses to sustain the drive for two more days.
At private centres like Holy Spirit in Andheri, CEO Sneha Joseph said they could vaccinate 516 people and had to turn away the rest. “We had requested for 300 vials (3,000 doses) but got only 90. We may be able to vaccinate only a few hundred on Tuesday,” she said. Dr Lalit Sankhe, nodal officer of JJ Hospital’s vaccination centre, said they have exhausted Covaxin doses. “If we get stocks, priority will mostly be given to those due for second doses. We have enough Covishield,” he said.
Dr Vyas said the state completed vaccinating a total of 1.48crore citizens with at least one dose by Monday evening. Congratulating immunisation teams, CM Uddhav Thackeray and health minister Rajesh Tope said the target was to double daily vaccination hereon. When asked about availability of doses, Vyas said, “Government of India (GOI) says consume supplies and (then) ask. We believe that GOI will support us,” he added. Prior to the 5 lakh daily vaccination record, the state had set a national record on April 3 by vaccinating 4.62 lakh in a day.