Record 24,417 beneficiaries get Covid-19 vaccine

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NEW DELHI: Delhi saw a huge spike in the number of people getting their Covid-19 vaccines on , with over 24,000 shots — the highest so far since inoculations began — being administered on Thursday. This is an increase of over 10,000 doses over the average 13,837 doses that were being administered in Delhi each day over the last seven days during which vaccination was carried out.

The increase in vaccination numbers comes as the government increased the number of vaccination centres from 265 to 302 on Thursday.

The vaccination turnout on Thursday stood at 80.8%, with a total of 24,417 shots being given. Of these, 3,537 were second doses being administered to beneficiaries who had completed the 28 day period since receiving their first shot.

So far, at least 11,188 beneficiaries have received their second dose of the vaccine out of the 25,762 who are eligible. This means, only 43.4% of the eligible people have come back for their second shots. This is marginally better than the country’s average of about 40% receiving the second doses of the vaccine.

“The second dose of the vaccine can be taken anytime between four to six weeks. So far, around 40% of the eligible people have received the vaccine, but more are likely to come forward soon. We are not worried about the second dose hesitancy as the health care workers are aware that both the doses are needed for the vaccine to be effective,” said NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul on Thursday.

What is worrying is that when it comes to the total number of health care workers immunised, Delhi lags behind the rest of the country. So far, only 44.8% of the total health care workers, who have been registered on the COWIN portal, have been administered a dose of the vaccine as on Thursday — two days before the government closes the immunisation drive for health care workers on February 10.

Addressing the issue of vaccine hesitancy at a webinar, Dr Paul said, “The world is asking for vaccines; we have the vaccine and we have the list of priority people and it is not fair for them to be refusing it. It is our societal duty to get vaccinated once identified as a beneficiary not just for myself, or my family, but to break the chain of transmission and to protect everyone.”