Govt may not wait for fresh stock of shots to open up vaccine drive
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government may not wait for stocks to arrive from vaccine manufacturers to kick-start the third phase of the Covid-19 vaccination drive from May 1 in the Capital, and will start inoculating those aged 18 and above with the existing stock, senior officials said on Monday.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that the Delhi government will inoculate all adult residents of the Capital against Covid-19 for free, even as he said that the government on Monday also approved the procurement of 13.4 million vaccine doses from manufacturers.
He did not specify which manufacturers will supply these doses to the Capital.
Two Covid-19 vaccines are currently in use across the country — Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Covaxin, made by Bharat Biotech, while a third — Russia’s Sputnik V jab — has been authorised for use. While SII has said it will sell its jab to state governments at ₹400 a dose, while Bharat Biotech announced it will supply the shot to states for ₹600 a dose.
A senior state health official said formal orders are being placed with the manufacturers and that the vaccines may take at least two weeks to arrive.
“At present, we have enough stocks for at least 10 days. Vaccinations have also taken a hit over the past two weeks because of the spike in Covid-19 cases in Delhi and the lockdown. Around 50,000 people are now getting vaccinated every day as against 100,000 vaccinations on April 11,” said the official.
After Kejriwal’s announcement, HT was able to contact eight of the 11 district administrations, who said that there were no specific instructions till Monday evening from the health department on the plan for the expanded vaccination drive.
“We have been told that the state health department is going to issue a standard operating procedure for all districts to follow in a day or two. Accordingly, our teams will be activated. There are a few days to go [for the programme to open up] and we are confident of ramping up centres and adding staff. Today, immunisation officers trained some of our additional staff,” said a health official in Central district.
Another official in Southwest district said centres will also be opened at government and private offices. It is not clear if they will be allowed at schools and community centres.
“On Sunday, the Union health ministry issued fresh guidelines allowing diversification of Covid vaccination centres (CVCS) if they have certain prerequisites mentioned in the guidelines. Increasing the number of centres will not be a problem. We have already identified places and we will have enough medical teams as well,” said the official.
At present, Delhi has around 500 vaccination centres spread across 192 hospitals and dispensaries.
According to the health ministry’s latest guidelines, even if new centres are opened, it will continue to be mandatory for all government and private vaccination centres to register on the COWIN portal, regardless of the source of the vaccine doses.
“It shall also be mandatory for all CVCS to record all vaccination, issue digital vaccination certificates and report all AEFIS on the COWIN system,” it said.
The eligibility conditions for any health facility for registration as a vaccination centre is unchanged. This means the facility must have sufficient cold chain capacity, enough room for waiting areas and post-vaccination observation rooms, vaccinators, and the ability to manage adverse effects.
A government spokesperson said that not all the fresh vaccine doses that arrive will be used to inoculate first-time beneficiaries.
“It’s going to be almost a month since vaccination was opened for those aged 45 and above. Before that, senior citizens were vaccinated. So, naturally we are vaccinating even those who are coming for their second dose. Across Delhi, there’s no segregation of vials on the basis of first and second dose. If a person has taken a first dose and the next registered person who walks up to the centre has their second dose scheduled, they will be given the shot from the same vial. So, there is going to be no shortage of vaccines in Delhi, since proper records are maintained, which will help us raise fresh orders from time to time,” said the spokesperson.
Till Monday, Delhi has administered 2,992,824 doses of the vaccines, of which 2,414,924 have got the first dose and 577,900 have got both doses.