Vaccination in Mumbai: Doctors get jabs to assure others

Several doctors were administeredCOVID-19 vaccine in Mumbai on Saturday, with many of themsaying that they wanted to dispel fear about the inoculationby volunteering to take the first doses.

While Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)officials said that the inoculation drive proceeded smoothlyon day one, some beneficiaries complained that they receivedintimation only hours before the drive began.

At the civic-run Sion hospital and medical college,Dean Mohan Joshi was the first beneficiary, followed by 42others including heads of department and associate professors.

The vaccine is safe, Joshi told PTI, adding that allhealthcare workers must take it so that they are protectedfrom the infection as they go about their work.

''It is a historic day in my life,'' he said.

His colleague Dr Nilkanth Awad, from the respiratorymedicine department, said vaccination will help end thepandemic, but social distancing and wearing masks will have tocontinue alongside for optimum results.

Dr Awad had conducted trials of Bharat Biotech-manufactured Covaxin at the Sion hospital.

At a centre in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), whereMaharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched thestatewide drive, members of the state's task force oncoronavirus Dr Gautam Bhansali, Dr Hemant Joshi, Dr HarishShetty and Dr Rahul Pandit were administered vaccine shots.

It is safe to take the vaccine, Dr Bhansali said.

Dietitian Madhura Pandit was the first to get the vaccine at the BKC centre.

Former state health minister Deepak Sawant was thefirst beneficiary at the Cooper Hospital centre which was alsopart of the nationwide live launch of the drive by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal toldreporters that 3.30 lakh people from the city will bevaccinated in the first and second phases. Some 1.30 lakhfrontline health workers are registered in the first phase.

Vaccination drives were underway in 49 countries andthere was no need for fear, he said.

''I am not entitled to take the vaccine as I am not ahealthcare worker, otherwise I would have been the first totake it,'' Chahal said.

Vandana Aawle (55), a civic health departmentemployee, said her relatives advised her to take the vaccinein the second phase so that she would be forewarned about anyside effects, ''but I took part in the first phase as I knowpeople are initially hesitant fearing adverse reactions''.

Private hospital employee Laxmi Shirsat said she didfeel nervous when she got a call from civic officials that shewas to get the dose on Saturday. ''But I told myself that wewill have to take it sometime or other, so why not today,'' shesaid.

Ganesh Parkar, who works as a peon at Dadar'sSushrusha Hospital, said he was happy that he was the firstemployee from the hospital to get the jab.

''I did not face any problem. The process was smooth,though it took longer than expected,'' he told reporters whilecoming out of the BKC vaccination centre.

But some healthcare workers complained that they wereintimated by the BMC that they were to get vaccinated onSaturday only a few hours earlier.

''We didn't receive any SMS,'' one of them said.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani saidthe SMSes were not received by some beneficiaries due to technical glitches in Co-WIN application.

The head of the BKC vaccination centre Dr RajeshDere said the drive proceeded smoothly on the first day.

Some people were shifted to observation rooms afterthey complained of ''issues'' but the cause turned out to be''anxiety and claustrophobia'', officials said.