VACCINATION TURNOUT DIPS TO 80.8% AFTER 91% GOT COVID JABS ON MONDAY

NEW DELHI: Delhi saw a dip in the vaccination rate on Wednesday with 6,545 of 8,100 targeted beneficiaries receiving the shot, reflecting a turnout of 80.8%. This is a drop of almost 10 percentage points from the 91% turnout the city saw on Monday.

An out-of-schedule vaccination drive was conducted on Wednesday in Delhi to make up for Republic Day holiday.

However, with the turnout seeing an increase since the 53.3% recorded during the nationwide roll-out on January 16, more vaccination sites are likely to be opened from Thursday. At least two of the 81 hospitals conducting the Covid-19 immunisation drive confirmed that additional sites will start at their facilities on Thursday.

“Now that more people have started coming in, to quickly vaccinate as many people as we can, another site will start functioning at the hospital from tomorrow,” said a senior doctor from Lady Hardinge Medical College. The hospital vaccinated 74 people on Wednesday, down from 110 on Monday.

Guru Teg Bahadur hospital in Dilshad Garden will also call in 200 beneficiaries for vaccination on Thursday. “We started a second vaccination counter Wednesday itself, post-lunch, and were able to achieve the target of 110. From tomorrow (Thursday), both counters will be open and 200 people will be called in for vaccination,” said a senior doctor at the hospital, not wishing to be named.

With 110%, north-east district saw the highest turnout among the 11 revenue districts on Wednesday. New Delhi saw the lowest with just 60.8% of the targeted people turning up for vaccination, as per the government data.

So far, 39,715 health-care workers have been inoculated against a targeted 58,778.

The government is planning on adding 25 more sites soon, according to a senior official from Delhi’s health department. “However, not all might start functioning from Thursday,”