Mumbai likely to get 87,000 Covishield doses on June 4: Mayor Kishori Pednekar

MUMBAI: Mumbai is expected to get a supply of 87,000 doses of Covishield vaccine against COVID-19 on Friday and the inoculation drive would resume in the city the next day, Mayor Kishori Pednekar said on Thursday.

Due to the unavailability of enough number of vaccine doses, the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Mumbai was suspended on Thursday at centres run by the city civic body and the Maharashtra government, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) earlier said.

Of the total 342 active COVID-19 vaccination centres in Mumbai, 243 are managed by the BMC and 20 by the state government.

Talking to reporters here, Pednekar said they are expecting a supply of 87,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine on Friday, following which the vaccination drive would resume the next day.

She also said they will try to administer both doses of vaccine to students who are set to go abroad for higher studies by August.

The BMC is not going to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from any agents, she said.

According to the BMC's update, so far 33,74,261 people have been administered COVID-19 vaccine doses in Mumbai, including 49,833 doses given on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, expressing concern over the rising cases of mucormycosis in Mumbai, Pednekar said the BMC has procured the necessary injections for the treatment of the disease, also known as black fungus.

The BMC is taking adequate steps to curb the cases of the fungal infection, she said.