BMC relaxes its no walk-in rule after ugly scenes at vax centres

Mumbai: The first day of BMC’s no walk-in rule had a chaotic start at most vaccination centres. Many unaware of such a direction came without appointment. As the crowd swelled and refused to leave without the shot, some centres relaxed the ‘no walk-in’ rule for a few hours.

- Sumitra DebRoy, Bhavika Jain & Richa Pinto TNN

BMC had announced late on Thursday that those above 45 years wouldn’t be allowed to walk in unless they were coming for a second dose of Covaxin or were healthcare or frontline workers.

At Govandi's Shivaji Nagar maternity home, things got out of hand and police was called after hundreds gathered to collect a token were upset to learn that an online appointment was needed. At Parel’s KEM Hospital, officials vaccinated senior citizens without an appointment for a few hours after the crowd got restive. However, by noon, most centres had stopped walk-ins.

On Friday, 41,107 vaccinations were done in the city, a drop from 60,153 on Thursday. Numbers could further dip on Saturday as centres are running low on stocks. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the drive could slow down if they don’t receive fresh stocks. Public health minister Rajesh Tope said the state had less than one lakh vaccine doses left of the nine lakh doses it received from the Centre three days ago.

Tope also said the public health department has proposed sequential vaccination to prioritise the 35-44 group and those with co-morbidities. “We have administered 2.15 lakh doses to 18-44 age group, but stocks are limited. We have received 4.9 lakh Covaxin doses and another 3.5 lakh Covishield doses have been assured. Till the time we do not have adequate stocks, we are proposing to proceed with sequential vaccination for the older population in the 18-44 age group and those with co-morbidities,” he said.