Mumbai prepares to vaccinate 50,000 daily and put an end to lockdowns

 

India’s business and financial hub Mumbai, once the country’s coronavirus hotspot, is building facilities to store 10 million doses of the Covid vaccine as it aims to open fully from a strict lockdown.

The city’s Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and his deputy Suresh Kakani, who’s in charge of the vaccination drive, spoke in separate interviews this week before the start of a nationwide rollout on Saturday. Their responses are edited for clarity.

Mumbai’s population that comes under the Municipal Corporation is about 15 million. We plan to create vaccine storage capacity of a little more than 10 million, which will be adequate as the vaccination will be done in phases. We have formed 500 teams, each having two vaccinators, two support staff and one security guard. They will initially run the vaccination program at eight centers, which can inject 12,000 people a day.

Capacity will rise to 50,000 people daily within a week, subject to availability of vaccines and people’s response. New centers will eventually be opened in each ward, so people won’t have to travel very far. Read More