Mumbai, May 12 (IANS) In a major decision, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday issued a global tender to acquire 1 crore vaccines, an official said.

The bids were issued after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray cleared a proposal, said BMC Commissioner I.S. Chahal.

"The BMC has issued global bid to acquire 1 crore Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate the citizens of Mumbai at the earliest possible on a massive scale in its decisive fight against the virus," he said.

Chahal added that the BMC is resolved to make all possible efforts in future also to acquire sufficient quantity of Covid-19 vaccines to vaccinate all eligible citizens of Mumbai on war footing in the next 60-90 days.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Maharashtra government decided to put on hold vaccination for people in the 18-44 age group till sufficient stocks were built up.

On Tuesday, Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray met Chahal and Additional Commissioner Suresh Kakani to discuss procurement of vaccines.

--IANS qn/vd