Delhi not getting enough vaccine doses: Kejriwal

In the coming days, we will need a large scale supply of vaccines. The latest consignment we have received is not a large one.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday expressed concerns over the short supply of Covid-19 vaccines, even as he asserted that with the current infrastructure in place, the entire population of Delhi can be vaccinated in three months if supply is scaled up.

“In the coming days, we will need a large scale supply of vaccines. The latest consignment we have received is not a large one. With the established procedures in place, we can scale up (the vaccination drive) in 24 hours. But there is a shortage of vaccine production. If production and supply are scaled up, we are capable of vaccinating the entire population of Delhi. Right now, the only obstacle is a short supply of vaccines,” Kejriwal said on the sidelines of his visit to a vaccination centre in central Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar.

While vaccination of people aged over 45 years was underway at around 500 sites, the drive was opened to people aged between 18 and 44 years on a wider scale on May 3, in a different set of 300-odd sites scattered across all 11 revenue districts in the city.

Government records showed, as on 10am on May 5, Delhi had a balance of 411,030 vaccine doses in the central government’s stock and 377,120 vaccine doses in the state government’s stock. Of the total 788,150 doses, 371,600 were of Covishield -- the Indian version of the Oxford/ Astrazeneca vaccine manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) – and the remaining are doses of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior government official said going by the current rate of vaccine coverage in the city, this stock would last for eight to nine days, unless replenished.

NEW DELHI:

ARVIND KEJRIWAL,

Delhi chief minister

Government records showed around 89,500 people are getting vaccinated a day on average these days.

Delhi’s adult population, as per electoral rolls revised in January, is around 15 million – it essentially means the city needs 30 million doses of vaccines, of which over 3.25 million doses were already administered by April 30, government data said. On May 1, the Delhi government had received its last consignment of around 450,000 vaccines, said the government official.

Kejriwal on Wednesday also expressed concerns over the issue of oxygen shortage and said that the ongoing lockdown is likely to remain in place till it is necessary.

“We are working with the central government to ensure the oxygen shortage problem in Delhi is resolved at the earliest... Even though currently there is a severe shortage of oxygen, we are trying our best to ensure that oxygen shortage does not lead to deaths,” said Kejriwal.

On being asked about the lockdown, he said, “It is likely to remain... It is not that the government is imposing a lockdown. People in Delhi want a lockdown in the light of surge in cases.. The pandemic has taken a massive shape. We are augmenting health infrastructure (during lockdown).”