PTI

Disabled persons above 45 years of age can visit any vaccination centre of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation and take vaccination without queuing. The civic chief Abhijit Bangar took the decision following demand from a section of society.

“In view of the difficulties faced by the disabled persons who could not go to the vaccination center and queue for token number due to physical difficulties, the municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar has issued an order to vaccinate the disabled persons directly without queuing at any vaccination center of the corporation,” said a senior official from the civic health department, adding that this will make it easier for people with disabilities over the age of 45 to get vaccinated easily.

Even the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) had taken a similar step last week and allotted one hour in the evening for disable persons for vaccination. As per the PMC decision, a disabled person can visit between 4 and 5 pm at the allotted center and vaccinate without waiting in the queue.

While the necessary preparations are being taken by NMMC to deal with the possible third wave of COVID 19, the target is to inoculate at least the first dose to all citizens above the age of 45 by July 31. Civic chief Bangar is handling the vaccination programme in the city himself.

Though the supply of COVID vaccine is relatively low at present, the corporation has issued a global tender for the purchase of the COVID 19 vaccine and the follow-up is ongoing. In doing so, the daily planning of vaccination is being closely monitored and care is being taken to ensure that the vaccinations will be available to the citizens of all the departments in the municipal area at their nearest center.

In the NMMC area, so far, 2,70,288 citizens have been vaccinated out of which 95,394 citizens have also taken a second dose of the COVID vaccine. Thus, a total of 3.65 lakh vaccines have been given by NMMC.