About 23 lakh citizens or 26 per cent of Mumbai’s adult population is still to receive the first Covid vaccine dose. So far, public and private centres have administered jabs to about 67 lakh people since the drive began on January 1. To expand the vaccination cover, officials said, the BMC commissioner has asked his team to step up inoculation efforts.

In the past eight months, the drive has hit several speed bumps due to the non-availability of vaccines. As per the Census, Mumbai has nearly 90 lakh citizens above the age of 18 years. Up until August 28, official data showed that 67,28,736 of them had received their first dose. Hesitancy over misconceptions has deterred a few citizens from going for the doses, said officials.