The Capital is approaching a critical milestone in its mass Covid-19 vaccination programme, with the total number of people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine set to surpass 10 million.
When compared to Delhi’s estimated adult population, this means that nearly two-thirds (66%) of those over the age of 18 have received a Covid-19 vaccination. According to data, the Capital is far ahead of the national average of around 55 percent of adults receiving at least one vaccine shot, and is among the top ten major states with the best population coverage.
Delhi government officials said they intend to cover the remaining population with vaccines within “two or three months”, and as such are confident of meeting the overall national target of administering both doses to all adults by the end of this year.
“We have already made arrangements for vaccinating the entire population of Delhi within two to three months. The only constraint we have is availability of doses. The moment we get sufficient doses, we will quickly vaccinate everyone. Currently it is September, we will surely finish by December,” said a Delhi government spokesperson.
Till Friday night, according to data from Union health ministry’s Co-WIN dashboard, Delhi administered around 13.9 million doses to 9,937,740 people (5,949,076 people partially vaccinated, and 3,988,664 fully vaccinated). According to projections by Census of India’s National Commission on Population, Delhi has an adult population of around 15 million people, which means that 26.5% of the city’s adults have received both doses of the vaccine and 39.5% are partially vaccinated.
To be sure, despite having a higher population coverage than the national average, Delhi’s daily dose administration pace is still patchy.
The seven-day average of daily doses administered in the city peaked on July 2 with 155,787 doses per day, but by the end of July, the number had dropped below 50,000 doses per day, owing to supply constraints. Despite recent improvements, the Capital’s daily administration pace remains 23 percent below the city’s peak levels to date, according to data. This slowdown is particularly noteworthy at this time, because the national dose rate is at an all-time high.
