With 'arti', thalis and sweets health workers cheer as vaccines arrive Mumbai's Cooper hospital

Mumbai, Jan 16: Dozens of health workers clapped and cheered the "vaccine carrier" staff as the coronavirus vaccines doses reached Mumbai''s Cooper hospital on Saturday morning.

With ''arti'' thalis and sweets, the staff of Cooper hospital waited outside the facility to welcome the first beneficiaries of the vaccination drive.

The hospital is one of the 285 centres in Maharashtra where the vaccination will be conducted in the first phase. It is also among the centres where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be live through a webcast.

Ahead of the nationwide launch of the first phase of vaccination, several health care workers, including doctors and nurses, gathered outside the nine vaccination centres in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will launch the statewide vaccination drive from a Bandra-Kurla Complex based vaccination centre at 11.15 am, an official said.

Around 4,000 health workers will be given the vaccine doses at 40 booths in the nine vaccination centres in Mumbai on the first day of the drive.

Mumbai has received 1.39 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine from Pune-based Serum Institute of India.

Dr Rajesh Dere, head of the BKC centre said 500 health workers, including 150 from the BKC Covid centre, will be vaccinated at the BKC Complex centre.

BMC officials said they have issued tokens to health workers selected for the vaccination through a registration process at the Cooper hospital.

At each centre in Maharashtra, the vaccine will be provided to 100 health workers on the first day, and cover 28,500 workers, an official said.

The state has received 9.63 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine and 20,000 doses of Covaxin vaccine, which have been distributed to all the districts.