mumbai more than five crore people are estimated to have become eligible for booster shots in the state with the centre on wednesday reducing the gap between the second and third doses to six months from nine months however the private sector doesnt plan on rushing to procure vaccines even though beneficiaries in the 1859 years age group will swell significantly rough figures drawn up by the state show that a little over 55 crore people had taken their second doses by january 6 making them eligible to receive their third shot immediately given that 39 lakh have taken booster shots in the state it leaves another 513 crore people eligible for the third shot almost 45 crore eligible people are likely to be from 1859 age bracket who would have to take the booster at private centresn ramaswami commissioner national health mission said that the vaccine supply will not be an issue for those eligible to get it in the public sector such as senior citizens healthcare and frontline workers dr sachin desai state immunisation officer said that maharashtra has nearly 90 lakh doses of vaccine available so the sudden rise in beneficiaries for third dose is unlikely to have an impact in the free centres state officials believe that the private sector could see a marginal rise in demand as their beneficiaries have gone up substantially but the private sector is not so optimistic most private centres in mumbai said their footfall has dropped to less than 100 per daythe demand for booster shots is only from people who want to travel abroad or are extremely sceptical about the virus or have some kind of mandatory requirement to take the third shot the demand for covid19 vaccines is almost over otherwise said dr prince surana ceo of surana group of hospitals