The civic body said on Wednesday that it had temporarily suspended vaccination of beneficiaries in the 18-44 category, a day after health minister Rajesh Tope told the media that it might happen soon over shortage of shots. Sources said the BMC will divert all the resources to inoculate those above 45 without any hassles.

The BMC had started the drive for the 18-44 group on May 1 and had also added centres where jabs were available after initially restricting the vaccination points to five. Officials said 39,029 such beneficiaries have been given their first dose in the last 12 days. With the introduction of this age group, the vaccines were used up faster and those for the second doses had to wait longer.