Delhi tops rate of jabs

ior revenue department official, who did not wish to be identified.

The decision to pick government schools to set up new centres was carefully thought out, and aimed to fight vaccine hesitancy, said officials.

“In the first week of May, Delhi was in the middle of a severe surge of Covid-19 cases. People feared visiting hospitals. And the fear was natural because most hospitals had Covid-19 patients, which means a high chance of getting infected. So, for the 18-45 group, arrangements were made in schools. And that turned out to be a gamechanger,” said a senior health department official on condition of anonymity.

Key to this success was the smooth experience of people in government centres.

Arijit Sen, executive with an international audit firm based in

Delhi, said: “Several of my friends went for their vaccination to the Delhi government centres and posted their pictures on social media. So, I went to a Delhi government centre to get my shot. The centres were neat and tidy. There was proper space to maintain distancing. They were organised. There was no fear at all.”

Gahlot said over the last few weeks, the government’s efforts in allaying vaccine hesitancy have borne fruit.“we ensured that the service was impeccable. That is one reason why a large number of people across all social classes chose government sites for vaccination,” he said.

But over the past two weeks, Delhi suffered an acute shortage of vaccines, forcing the city government to suspend 368 vaccine sites for the 18-45 group.

Though 720 sites for the 45-plus