As of Friday, over a million people in the national capital had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, despite the fact that most inoculation clinics were closed for Eid-Ul-Fitr.
According to government data, Delhi has given out 4.37 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine so far. Over one million of these were second doses, indicating that the recipients had completed their two-jab Covid-19 vaccine regimen.
Meanwhile, because Covaxin supplies ran out on Thursday, the city continued to run its inoculation programme for the 18-44 age group using only Covishield doses.
The Delhi government had 346,000 doses of vaccine left as of Friday, all of which were Covishield vaccines..“Covaxin stock for the 18-44 years beneficiary group is over and the Covishield stock for this group should last another eight days. This has led to temporary suspension of around 140 vaccine centres. We have urged the central government to intervene in this regard and ensure that Delhi gets supply of Covaxin at the earliest. A large number of beneficiaries also have their second doses scheduled now. They have to be vaccinated,” said AAP legislator Atishi while reading out the Delhi government’s vaccine bulletin on Friday.
According to state government estimates, the Capital will require 30 million doses to inoculate its 15 million adult population.
Vaccines for those aged 45 and up are also in short supply in Delhi.
Satyendar Jain, the Delhi health minister, said on Friday that India should bid for vaccines on the global market as a single entity rather than asking states to do so individually, reiterating a request made by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal the day before.
“India is one nation, and one tender policy should be implemented, rather than a state-wise tender which will only create more confusion and heat between states which are going to procure vaccines. A state-wise tender will also put India in a bad light. Like there is one Indian embassy in each country, there should be one tender for the procurement of vaccines from this international market,” said Jain in a separate press briefing.
He further said, “Nonetheless, I believe that India has the most renowned vaccine manufacturers in the world. I am aware of at least 30 prominent companies who have the capacity to prepare them if they are given the required formula from the makers of Covishield and Covaxin. The centre itself is an owner of Covaxin, and may submit the formula to other companies so that they are equipped to make the vaccines by themselves. At the same time, the centre has exported nearly 6.5 Cr vaccines to various countries. Now, they are asking us to purchase them from these international markets, which is quite strange and uncanny.”
