300 days after the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme was launched on January 16, Mumbai achieved 100% first dose coverage on Saturday, November 13.  According to the Central government’s CoWin dashboard, by 10 pm Saturday, the city had exceeded its target of vaccinating the eligible adult population of 9,236,546 with at least one dose by 0.18 percent, administering 9,253,647 first doses and 6,033,148 double doses, bringing the city’s full vaccination coverage to 65%.

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To be sure, Mumbai has statistically achieved 100% first-dose coverage, but the city will still need to administer many more doses to truly cover its entire adult population. The reason for this is that an estimated 10-20% of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine in Mumbai are from other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) or Maharashtra.

“We are definitely accounting for this slight mismatch. Therefore, our vaccination drive will continue aggressively,” Mumbai’s executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare told Hindustan Times. “We will have to go much beyond 100%,” she added.

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Experts believe that absolute coverage may still be a few days away, and that a small percentage of the population may choose to remain unvaccinated due to personal preference, hesitancy, or other factors. “No other district in the country has managed to reach the 100% target in such a short time,” said Mumbai’s additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani. “It has been a collective effort. We achieved it because of the sincere contribution of all municipal workers, private hospitals, NGOs and people on the ground.”

On March 25, Mumbai passed the one million dose mark (both doses included). On August 24, a milestone of 9 million doses was reached. Mumbai became the first district in India to administer 10 million doses on September 4, and it passed the 15 million mark on November 10. Mumbai had given out 15,286,627 combined doses as of Saturday. 

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Decentralising vaccination centres, according to Kakani, was critical in achieving the goal. New micro strategies are being developed as the city works to increase first dose coverage beyond 100% and meet the second dose target. 

Dr Om Srivastava, an infectious disease expert and member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 task force, said that 100% first-dose coverage was “great news”. “It means the city is better protected than earlier. But we cannot let our guard down. The virus is unpredictable, and there are countries that are seeing large number of cases even now. France has announced it is experiencing a fifth wave,” he said.

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On Friday, World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Covid-19 cases were not only surging in eastern European countries with lower vaccination rates, but also in western Europe, which is among the world’s highest vaccinated geographies.

Vaccination in Mumbai first began on January 16 along with the rest of the country for healthcare workers, which was expanded on February 5 to include frontline workers; on March 1 for citizens above 60 years of age; on April 1 for citizens in 45-59 years age group; and on May 1 for all adult citizens. Vaccination for lactating mothers began on May 26, and for pregnant women, it began from July 14.

On day one, Mumbai had just 10 vaccination centres, but that number has grown to 462, including public and private vaccination centres, with a combined capacity of administering over 123,000 doses per day.

Dr Naveen Thacker, vaccination expert and a former civil society organisation representative to GAVI, the vaccine alliance, said, “Mumbai has shown 100% vaccination is achievable. Other districts in the country should follow suit. This should be a barrier between the city and the anticipated third wave,” he said.

COVID numbers in Maharashtra appear to be gradually declining this month. In comparison to the first 13 days of October, there was a 61.14% drop in cases in the first 13 days of November. Similarly, while active cases in the state totaled 29,555 on October 13, they had dropped by 58.65% to 12,219 by November 13. The active cases in Mumbai were 5,997 and 3,577, respectively, a drop of 40.65%.