Mumbai faces COVID vaccine shortage, people queue up outside BKC Jumbo vaccination centre

The BKC Jumbo COVID Vaccination Centre, one of the biggest centres in Mumbai, witnessed long queues on Tuesday, 20 July 2021, owing to a vaccine shortage. Locals queued up since morning in front of the vaccine centre afraid that they might not receive the vaccine dose afterwards. The BMC on Monday, 19 July 2021, had informed that only a limited amount of COVID-19 vaccine doses will be available on Tuesday.

Vaccine shortage at BKC jumbo vaccination centre

People queued up since morning in front of the BKC jumbo vaccination centre in hope of getting vaccinated. However, due to a vaccine shortage, many were sent back. People waiting in line since morning expressed their agitation over the issue. A bystander told ANI that contrary to BMC information, vaccines were not available for the first dose or second dose.

“We are standing in a queue since morning 7:00 am, now they are saying the vaccine is not available for first dose or second dose. They said we will be informed when the vaccine is available. Many frustrated people went back home. They are only allowing people who have registered online for the vaccine,” said Santosh Pandey, a local at the vaccination centre.

Another person waiting in line said that he was not being given his second dose of the vaccine. “I am waiting here for more than one and a half hours for my second dose. 90 days have passed but they are saying the vaccine is not available at this age. Government should increase the vaccine doses so that everyone can get vaccinated,” Prabhakar Sawant told ANI. Meanwhile, others in the queue also raised concern over the vaccine shortage. Daily wage workers said that they could not leave work and wait in line all day.

Coronavirus vaccine shortage in Mumbai

Mumbai has been facing a shortage of vaccines since the beginning of July. Earlier, BMC had suspended inoculation at civic and government-run centres citing a shortage of vaccine doses. On Monday, BMC took to their official Twitter handle to inform them that there would be a vaccine shortage on Tuesday. “Due to limited availability of Covid-19 vaccines, 58 out of 309 Government and BMC vaccination centres will be administering vaccine on July 20,” BMC had tweeted.

Meanwhile, other states including Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have also reported shortages in COVID-19 vaccines. Maharashtra continues to record a high tally of daily coronavirus cases, as it reported 9,000 fresh cases on Monday, only bested by Kerala with 13,956.

(With ANI inputs)