New Delhi: Even as Mumbai’s BMC braces for 10,000 cases per day, the Centre on Sunday turned down its proposal to allow door-to-door vaccination of senior citizens suffering from physical disabilities saying there was no policy framed to this purpose. However, the union health ministry said that it plans to extend the vaccination programme to the micro-level to enable people who live in far-flung areas to avoid travelling beyond 2 km for getting vaccinated.
The Centres’ approval for door-door vaccination would have benefited many as nearly 1.5 lakh population in Mumbai is of old citizens who are either visually impaired or bedridden and in no condition to leave their respective houses to get vaccinated, Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner of BMC was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror.
“A lot of people have apprehensions about visiting a hospital for vaccination. They fear that they will contract the virus. We plan to take the vaccination to micro-level where people don’t have to travel more than 2 km for vaccination.” a senior official of the ministry of health was quoted saying.
Explaining why the door-door vaccination will not prove to be fruitful, the official was quoted as saying that once vaccinated, a beneficiary has to be kept under observation to check for any reactions. However, if the civic body starts vaccinations at home, this might take a lot of time and make the vaccination process needlessly slower.
BMC at present is fearing registering 10,000 cases per day and is also contemplating the hospitalisation of at least 2000 victims every day if the covid surge continues further, the report added.