Delhi to receive 5.5L vaccine doses for 18-44 group next month: Sisodia
‘48,000 Covaxin doses received for 45+ group, to be mostly used as 2nd jabs’
Delhi will receive 5.5 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses for the 18-44 age group from the Centre next month, but not before June 10, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said, on Saturday, as he accused the Central government of being stubborn on the issue of vaccine distribution.
Mr Sisodia also accused the Centre of “negligence and gross mismanagement” and sought to know how private hospitals were getting vaccines while states were being told that there was no stock.
“The Delhi government wants to vaccinate all its youth free of cost. If there are no vaccines for this purpose, how are vaccines available at private hospitals?” the deputy chief minister asked, underlining that such facilities were charging around `1,000 per jab.
All states are awaiting stocks of Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate the youth and save them from this pandemic, he added, addressing a press conference here.
In a statement issued later, the deputy chief minister was quoted as saying that the “BJP-led government was not distributing vaccines earmarked for the states and instead playing vaccine politics.”
According to data shared with the Centre, 52.84 lakh doses have been administered in Delhi since the inoculation exercise began on January 16. Of this, 36.79 lakh were of Covishield and 16.04 lakh of Covaxin.
With the vaccination for the 18-44 age group remaining suspended for the sixth day on Saturday, Mr Sisodia said, “The Central government has told us that more stocks for the youth segment will be made available in June, but not before June 15.”
Sharing some data, the deputy chief minister said that against a requirement of 1.84 crore doses to vaccinate 92 lakh people in the 18-44 age group in Delhi, the Centre had provided 4.5 lakh doses in April and 3.67 lakh doses in May.
The city government is prepared to vaccinate all its 92 lakh people in this age group within three months to “break the chain of the coronavirus,” but there aren’t enough vaccines, he said.
Delhi received over 48,000 doses of Covaxin for the 45-plus age group on Saturday and it will mostly be used for administering the second doses since the quantity is less, AAP MLA Atishi said.
Delhi also received over 83,000 doses of Covishield on Friday, she added.
Issuing the vaccination bulletin, she said, “We received over 48,000 doses of Covaxin on Friday from the Centre for the 45-plus people and healthcare and frontline workers.
“Since the quantity is less, it will mostly be used to inoculate those who have received the first dose of the vaccine,” she added.
The Delhi government has also floated a global expression of interest (EOI) for procurement of 10 million doses of Covid19 vaccine on an urgent basis.