9,494 get vaccine jabs, trial for frontline workers starts
NEW DELHI: Delhi administered 9,494 Covid-19 jabs, out of the targeted 18,300, on Thursday, registering a turnout rate of 51.88%, which is around 12 percentage points higher than the previous day, even as the drive was opened up on a trial basis for frontline workers.
The 9,494 beneficiaries who got the shots on Thursday, include both health care workers and frontline workers. But the government did not share data for beneficiaries under each category.
On Thursday, 13 cases of adverse effects following immunisation (AEFI) were recorded, but none of them were severe in nature, senior government officials said.
Health care workers are the first priority group for the inoculation drive, which was rolled out across the country on January 16. In Delhi, 240,000 health workers have registered for the vaccination.
Front line workers come next on the priority list. They include police officials, fire officials, municipal staff, sanitation workers, schoolteachers and staff across all departments and agencies which were engaged in Covid-19 management. Delhi has an estimated 600,000 front line workers, of which around 350,000 have registered for vaccination so far, said data shared by senior government officials, who added that the registration drive for front line workers is underway.
Last week, the Union government told states to consider starting vaccination for front line workers by the first week of February, following which the Delhi government scaled up its vaccination capacity on Tuesday by increasing the total number of vaccination sites from 106 to 183 and number of vaccination days in a week from four to six.
“The trial run for vaccination of front line workers started today (Thursday) at least three vaccine centres in each of the 11 revenue districts. Few more centres will be roped in on Friday. We plan to start it full-fledged vaccines by Saturday. The front line workers will be eligible for shots in the same centres where health workers are being vaccinated. This is the reason why overall capacity for vaccination was scaled up,” said a senior government official.
A senior official in the health department of the New Delhi Municipal Council said, “Registered front line workers will also be allowed for out-of-turn jabs, similar to the policy adopted for health care workers. The government is helping with the list of beneficiaries for all centres. The centres will have to ensure that records are maintained.”
On Wednesday, Delhi had recorded the lowest vaccination turnout for a single day – at 40.25%.
Government officials and experts attributed the recent decline in turnout to lack of awareness among beneficiaries about the new centres and decline in figures in several of the existing vaccination centres which, they said, suggest that they may have reached a saturation point.
Dr Namrata Makkar, deputy medical superintendent at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, said: “The turnout numbers should increase. Now that thousands of health workers have already been vaccinated in Delhi, the confidence-building exercise should be easier for front line workers and eventually the masses. In its awareness drives, the government should clearly deliver the message that how the vaccine is the biggest preventive measure against a potential second wave of the disease, which countries across the world have witnessed.”
Dr Jugal Kishore, head of community medicines department in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, said: “More centres will open doors for front line workers on Friday as part of the ongoing trial. It was a good decision to start with the trial and assess management-related issues. With time, the turnout numbers should go up.”