Mumbai to see 80% increase in vax booths in first phase of drive

Mumbai: The BMC plans to increase the number of vaccination booths by almost 80% during the ongoing first phase of the drive in the city.

Currently, BMC has 40 booths in nine hospital-centres across the city; big hospitals such as KEM, Sion, Nair and Cooper have prepared 10 booths while smaller ones in the suburbs have five booths each. ‘We can ramp up to 72 if there is a good turnout,” said BMC’s additional commissioner Suresh Kakani.

This follows the state government’s announcement on Friday that the number of vaccination booths across the state would increase from 285 to 511 from Monday. On Saturday itself, total booths had increased to 290. “Mumbai’s capacity has increased from 40 to 72,” confirmed Dr Archana Patil, state director of health services, on Saturday.

Kakani said the civic public health department has identified a few hospitals that could provide vaccination at a short notice.

“We have 15 booths ready in Seven Hills Hospital, Marol, which can be commissioned shortly,” said Kakani. Moreover, the number of booths at the BKC jumbo facility can be increased.

Incidentally, the number of booths and vaccination sessions per day are generated by the centre’s Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) software based on the data fed by the local health department.

Each vaccinator in a booth has to vaccinate 100 people a day. In cities such as Mumbai which have the infrastructure and the manpower, the corporations have decided to increase the number of vaccinators.

“If there is a heavy turnout, we will add one vaccinator in a booth to speed up the process,” said BMC executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare.

There is also an option to operate double shifts. The BMC has trained over 5,000 nurses and doctors for the vaccination process.

These ramping up measures are needed if all the healthcare workers have to be vaccinated within 28 days. “From the 29th day, we will have to start giving the recipients the second dose of the vaccine,’’ said Kakani.

Each recipient has to take two shots of Covid-19 vaccine, 28 days apart.

In the first phase of vaccination, almost 8 lakh healthcare workers across the state (including 1.3 lakh in Mumbai) will be vaccinated.

The state has also decided to increase the number of vaccination days in a week to five from the present four. The five fixed days are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Due to the Pulse Polio drive on January 30, though, there will be no Covid-19 vaccination drive next Saturday.