CM Thackeray kickstarts COVID vaccination drive in Mumbai

By Vedika Jain

On 16 January 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi scripted history as he launched the world's largest vaccination drive against COVID-19 in India via video-conference telecast live across the nation. In an emotionally-charged speech, the Prime Minister said India's drive was based on humanitarian principles and stressed that "those who needed the vaccine the most will get the dose first." In Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched the state's vaccination drive at the COVID Vaccination Centre at BKC. 

...GO: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launching the vaccination drive at BKC

In the presence of the Chief Minister, Dr Madhura Patil got her first dose of the Covishield vaccine along with several others. The first phase of the immunisation drive is being conducted at 40 booths at nine vaccination centres across Mumbai. At Dr. Rustom Narsi Cooper Municipal General Hospital in Vile Parle, former Public Health Minister Deepak Sawant was the first person to get vaccinated.

Scores of health workers were visible clapping and cheering the 'vaccine carrier' staff when the vaccine reached Cooper Hospital in Mumbai. The hospital staff waited outside the facility with arti thalis and sweets to welcome the first beneficiaries of the vaccination drive. Cooper Hospital is one of the 285 centres in Maharashtra where the COVID-19 vaccinations are being provided in the first phase.

FIRST: Dr Madhura Patil receiving the first dose of the vaccine in the presence of the CM

In Mumbai's Colaba area, the immunisation drive began at the Western Naval Command at INHS Ashvini with the immunisation of Health Care Workers. Commanding Officer, INHS Ashvini Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai received the first dose of the vaccine. The 100 Health Care Workers who received the vaccine on Day One included medical officers, nursing officers and paramedical staff. The next phase will target frontline workers and personnel deployed on operational platforms.

LEADING: Commanding Officer INHS Ashvini Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai received the first dose of the vaccine on Day One

Maharashtra has received 9.63 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine and 20,000 doses of Covaxin vaccine, which have been distributed to all the districts. Vaccinations will be given daily from nine in the morning to five in the evening. Mumbai happens to have 40 - the highest number of vaccination centres in the state followed by Pune (31), Thane (23), Nashik (13), Nagpur and Ahmednagar (12 each), Kolhapur and Solapur (12 each) besides others.

SUPPORTIVE: Corporator Pushpa Koli visited Sion Hospital to motivate the staff who got vaccinated on the first day

During his speech, the PM said that India's drive was based on humanitarian principles and stressed that "those who needed the vaccine the most will get the dose first." So, the ones at the highest risk, that include doctors, nurses, sanitation staff at hospitals, medical and para-medical staff would get the vaccine dose first.

"Today, scientists and those involved in vaccine research, deserve special praise. They have been involved in making the vaccine against Corona for the past several months. It usually takes years to make a vaccine. But in such a short time, not one, two Made in India vaccines are ready. Work is underway on some other vaccines as well," said Mr Modi.

In the first phase, government and private sector health care workers, including Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) workers will receive the vaccine. The drive will be held daily from 9 am to 5 pm, except on days earmarked for routine immunisation programmes.

In the next phases of the vaccination drive, people aged over 50, and those who are below 50 years but have serious health conditions or co-morbidities will be vaccinated, according to the health ministry. Dry-runs at vaccination centres across the country have been held with lakhs of healthcare staff across districts being trained.

The drugs regulatory body of India has currently approved two vaccines. Pune-based Serum Institute of India has developed the Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University while the Covaxin has been developed by Hyderabad's Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Medical Council of research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology. 

The vaccination programme in the country will use Co-WIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work), an online digital platform developed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which will facilitate real-time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine. This digital platform will assist programme managers across all levels while conducting vaccination sessions.

A dedicated 24x7 call centre - 1075 - has also been established for addressing the queries related to COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine roll out and the Co-WIN software. The full initial procurement amount of 1.65 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines against COVID-19 have been allocated to all States/UTs in the proportion of Health Care Workers database, Union Health Ministry stated.

Most of the states have received the first batch of coronavirus vaccine doses including Delhi which has received 2,74,000 vaccine doses, followed by Maharashtra receiving over 9 lakh doses and Andhra Pradesh around with 4.7 lakh doses.

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