Mumbai: At least 3,539 of the day’s target of 3,852 health workers were administered COVID-19 vaccines at 10 vaccination centres in Mumbai on Friday, a civic official said.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the numbers have improved considerably since the drive started on January 16, as the civic body has now permitted health workers registered for immunisation to walk in anytime to take the shot.
As per the official data, only 48-52 per cent health workers had come forward to take the vaccine in the first three sessions of the drive.
Nearly 92 per cent of 3,852 healthcare workers were given shots on the fourth session of the immunisation drive, the official said.
“The response to the drive has improved since the walk-in facility was started for healthcare workers,” the BMC’s executive health officer Mangla Gomare said, adding that technical issues of Co-WIN application have been resolved, making the procedure smoother for them.
Co-WIN is the IT platform developed by the Union government to implement and manage the inoculation process.
According to the official data, 685 healthcare workers took the shot at KEM Hospital, the highest in the city, followed by 572 at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital and 517 at Rajawadi Hospital.
All of them were administered Covishield vaccine, manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, barring 25 health workers, who took the jab at the state-run JJ Hospital, where Covaxin developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is being administered.
Earlier on Wednesday, of the targeted 3,300 health workers called in for inoculation at 10 centres, only 52 per cent (1,728) healthcare workers turned up.
On Tuesday, 1,597 out of 3,300 health workers received vaccines, while 1,923 of the 4,000 workers took the shot in the first session on Saturday.
In light of poor response to the drive due to the technical glitches in Co-WIN, the civic body decided to allow the registered healthcare workers to “walk in” take the vaccine, if they are not listed for the day.