Mumbai to import 1 crore Sputnik V doses, plans to vaccinate entire city in 60 days

Mumbai needs one crore shots to vaccinate people in the age group of 18-45 and another 50 lakh shots for people above 45 years old

Mumbai municipality is importing one crore Sputnik V doses and has set an ambitious plan of getting every citizen of the city vaccinated against Covid-19 in 60 days. It is the first city in India to independently import vaccines.

Iqbal Singh Chahal, Municipal Commissioner, told Bloomberg TV that they are estimating to spend Rs 700 crore to buy the vaccines. Faster vaccination will protect more people from contracting the virus and avoiding the third wave and thus saving the government from spending Rs 800 crore alone on the temporary hospitals build for Covid-19 treatment.

Also read: How Mumbai’s city officials made it more Covid-ready than Delhi

"Once we get 15 million vaccine shots, I plan to vaccinate the entire city in the next 60 days and by doing so I am very sure we will be able to stop the third wave from coming," Mr Chahal told Bloomberg TV.

The city has received three bids to import one crore Sputnik V vaccines from London-based Taliesin International Ltd. and two Indian authorised distributors of Sputnik V vaccines. It needs one crore shots of the Russian vaccine to vaccinate people in the age group of 18-45 and another 50 lakh shots for people above 45 years old.

Chahal told The Hindu, “We got three proposals yesterday, but we still extended the date till May 25. Now we have three bids of one crore Sputnik each.”

Apart from the Sputnik V vaccine, Mumbai’s municipal corporation is also trying to import Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.